A railgun is a device that uses electromagnetic force
to launch projectiles dynamically & should be able to
fire 6 rounds per minute with a rail life of about 3000 rounds, ,
tolerating launch accelerations of 20,000 g
surface temperatures of 800…
A railgun is a device that uses electromagnetic force
to launch projectiles dynamically & should be able to
fire 6 rounds per minute with a rail life of about 3000 rounds, ,
tolerating launch accelerations of 20,000 g
surface temperatures of 800 deg C.
5 mega amp , 1.2k volt, 6 giga watt
Barrel life was tens of shots to over 400, with a program path
to achieve 1000 shots. by 2004 & did not happen
not efficient at turning electrical energy into kinetic energy due to Resistive voltage drop in the rails accounts for 33% of the breech voltage & energy lost in the rails is about 75% of the final kinetic energy of the projectile
008,213 ft/s max speed for a 1 lbs mass rail gun
vs
004,145 ft/s Remington .17 cal
vs
004,665 ft/s for a 29 grain .220 Swift bullet propelled by 42 grains of 3031 powder
vs
005,700 ft/s Armour-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot anti take dart
vs
006,000 ft/s 7 lbs copper talaban wave shaping explosively formed projectile IED
vs
027,000 ft/s NASA’s light-gas projectile test bed
220,000 ft/s Voitenko compressor shaped charge
367,000 ft/s is earth gravity escape velocity
https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/22548
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#Weaponry
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Railgun#Major_difficulties
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.220_Swift
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/.338_Lapua_Magnum
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Explosively_formed_penetrator
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-gas_gun
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armour-piercing_fin-stabilized_discarding_sabot
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voitenko_compressor
In my opinion, this kind of technology will become a distant future next generation weapon used much more regularly... we just dont have the materials / elements & science to do it on a much more concentrated, durable & powerful weapon system. Following progression... We have gone from tossing rocks to tossing spears... then onwards Catapults, bows & arrows, explosive bombs, bombards, cannon..
