Anyone Heard About This Bad Boy

[guido911]

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/01/30/railgun_record_bid_us_navy_electric_hypersonic_cannon/

[cannon_fodder]

Wow, talk about a new class of destroyer.  Add 2 of these onto an AGEIS Destroyer or bring in a new order of battleships.  It's huge, expensive, and causes tons of world suffering - but sometimes the military is just cool.

[spoonbill]

Test Article

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by spoonbill

Test Article

Excellent article and photos. Of course, it's from Fox News so.....

[Ed W]

Wired has a piece on this in Dangeroom:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/video-rail-gun.html#more

Technically, it's not a firearm, so can I have one please?

[patric]

The Third Reich didnt have time to complete it, so I guess we take up where they left off...

[Chicken Little]

quote: The only ammo you need is solid shot with guidance fins; there's no need for tons of high-explosive warheads and low-explosive chemical propellants for regular shells and missiles.

Emphasis mine.  Back to cannonballs.  Sweet.

[sgrizzle]

They aren't emphasing this, but this is the first entirely "Green" weapon that can kill you above the speed of sound. Someone should try to get greenpeace to sign off on it.

Can't wait to see this ship-mounted.

[Wingnut]

The Kinetic Energy Missle (hypervelocity missle) concept has been around for a while, mainly for anti-tank warfare. I used to have a video of a test round hitting a tank. Wow! Doing the math, it hits the target at about Mach 5. It's safe since there is no explosive, just the rocket motor. They were updating it with directional fins for guidance and precision.
A most fascinating weapon.

LOSAT Info

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

The Kinetic Energy Missle (hypervelocity missle) concept has been around for a while, mainly for anti-tank warfare. I used to have a video of a test round hitting a tank. Wow! Doing the math, it hits the target at about Mach 5. It's safe since there is no explosive, just the rocket motor. They were updating it with directional fins for guidance and precision.
A most fascinating weapon.

LOSAT Info

Is it wrong that I hear Megadeth's "Crush Em" when I see see this weapon at work?

[sgrizzle]

quote:Originally posted by guido911

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut

The Kinetic Energy Missle (hypervelocity missle) concept has been around for a while, mainly for anti-tank warfare. I used to have a video of a test round hitting a tank. Wow! Doing the math, it hits the target at about Mach 5. It's safe since there is no explosive, just the rocket motor. They were updating it with directional fins for guidance and precision.
A most fascinating weapon.

LOSAT Info

Is it wrong that I hear Megadeth's "Crush Em" when I see see this weapon at work?

That just makes you 'merican.

[Gaspar]

quote:Originally posted by Ed W

Wired has a piece on this in Dangeroom:

http://blog.wired.com/defense/2008/01/video-rail-gun.html#more

Technically, it's not a firearm, so can I have one please?

That's awesome!  I want the hand-held model!

[sgrizzle]

I like this quote about a lower-power firing:

quote:
For a megajoule frame-of-reference, a Navy official compared the 8-megajoule railgun shot to "hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph."

[Wingnut]

Rail Gun details

From the article....
A gun that accelerates a bullet to a speed of 13,000 miles per hour in 0.2 seconds

And I thought the Powerkeg at Silver Dollar City was fast!

[guido911]

quote:Originally posted by Wingnut


And I thought the Powerkeg at Silver Dollar City was fast!

That ride is fast. Try it when the temperature hits 45 degrees