More... Navy Rail Guns

Just make sure you have the leads hook-up correctly.......

if its phased wrong it just shoots backwards

Yea! But can it outshoot my desktop rail gun? I use it to run off pesky management.

let's see it in action...

Now I know where your management's are located.

If only I could find out where my manager's went.

Yay! More weapons!

Indispensable if you have an incoming missile.

nifty technology...i suspect it will be applicable to satellite launches in the near term and perhaps be applied to space travel in the not to distant future...to me its an amazing technology directed first at weapons but the possibilities are fascinating.

not exactly. launching stuff into space is tricky. the lifting force involved in lifting a payload to orbit are completely different that firing a 23 pound projectile down range. current satellite designs would not withstand the sudden violence. you'd be hurling space junk

Surviving the acceleration may be a limiting factor for space launch payloads.

When I was a kid back on L.I. I had a toy I really got a kick out of: A rocket that was launched when you released the water pressure in the rocket body. Enough reminiscing, now back to the future.

• What if you have a hybrid launch system? Starting horizontally with hydraulic propulsion, then air propulsion [ala Elon Musk's "Spruce Goose"] at an increased angle of attack, and at the final stage electromagnetic propulsion,more vertically.
• Feasible?
• Could astronauts become acclimated to the G-forces like divers ( assumption here) become acclimated to the pressures of depth?

the article says is uses (article says "produces") 32 mega-joules of power.

if it is to fire once ....

1 joule = 0.00028 watt hours

32 mega-joules = 9 KWH of power. so.....

a standard 1 MW genset (fits easy in a 40' connex) should let it fire 100 times a hour.

Saw a demo of it and they said that the impact creates such a fire ball on impact that it will take down any incoming missile. They didn't explain if there is a guidance system in the projectile or if the aiming system is so accurate that it's guaranteed to hit the target. Not quite sure of how it would have such pinpoint accuracy unless they re-incarnated Sargent York into the aiming mechanism.

at over 6 times the speed of sound........ that's a lot of potential energy

In my experience rail gun rails erode quite quickly, I have to wonder how many times it can fire before they have to replace the rails.

That's the cost of doing business........

No different that replacing the cables on the catapult on a Aircraft carrier............ if it isn't being replaced

My point being that continuous bombardment is not going to be possible, they will have to constantly swap out the rails. the high power rail guns I've seen generally have to replace rails after every other shot....or more often.

OH............ that worse swapping out the barrels on the MG-42 machine gun.

"The MG 42 has a proven record of reliability, durability, simplicity, and ease of operation, but is most notable for its ability to produce a high volume of suppressive fire. The MG 42 had one of the highest average rates of fire of any single-barreled man-portable machine gun: between 1,200 and 1,500 rpm, which results in a distinctive muzzle report."

you could at least get a few thousand rounds through that one before having to swap barrels, and the barrels weren't so big you needed a crane to handle them either.

Hence the nick name of "Hitler's Zipper" or "Hitler's Buzzsaw"

with a Rate of fire of 1,200 rounds/min (up to 1,800 rounds/min for some versions), on D-Day, that ammo runner, must have been pretty tired.