| Private Matter | 10 Feb 2015 6:07 a.m. PST |
This could be interesting: link |
| GeoffQRF | 10 Feb 2015 6:13 a.m. PST |
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| Mako11 | 10 Feb 2015 5:21 p.m. PST |
A shame they didn't keep it quiet, to let our enemies find out the surprise way about these. |
| paulgenna | 11 Feb 2015 1:28 p.m. PST |
I read about this a few weeks ago. The current admin is not one to keep any military secrets. Dirty political secrets yes. It probably can also be used as proof that we do not need a large and expensive military. Our technology surpasses most other nations by leaps and bounds. |
| Charlie 12 | 13 Feb 2015 9:24 p.m. PST |
Considering that the 'railgun' is nothing more than a high powered linear electric motor (something that was first conceived in the 1840s… yes, the 1840s), there isn't anything earth shattering or oh so secret about it. Linear motors have been in use for all kinds of things for at least a hundred years in industrial applications, mass transit systems and even amusement rides. Deep dark military secret? Not even close… |
| Murvihill | 17 Feb 2015 11:52 a.m. PST |
I think the actual accomplishment of the idea relied on research into (damn! can' remember the word) resistance-less power transmission, but the effect is simply a better gun, nothing revolutionary. Now we can drop shells on them from 50 miles away instead of cruise missiles. Nobody's going to go out and throw away their entire fleet or anything. |
| PHGamer | 19 Feb 2015 8:38 a.m. PST |
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| Murvihill | 19 Feb 2015 11:15 a.m. PST |
That's the word. they say the second thing that goes is the mind… |
| Lion in the Stars | 19 Feb 2015 12:25 p.m. PST |
@Murvihill: More like dropping shells from 200 miles away, but "just a better gun" is a pretty fair description. And the first thing that goes is the waistline!  |
| Murvihill | 23 Feb 2015 11:55 a.m. PST |
Is that what it is? I'd forgotten. |
hindsTMP  | 02 Mar 2015 10:00 a.m. PST |
@Murvihill: More like dropping shells from 200 miles away, but "just a better gun" is a pretty fair description. That's some fire control problem if it's a moving target ( about 3 minutes flight time?). Presumably they would need some sort of terminal guidance. MH |
| cwlinsj | 02 Mar 2015 12:55 p.m. PST |
Presumably they would need some sort of terminal guidance. Nope. Just an inert alloy slug shot to Mach 7 velocity. the impact does the damage. Each slug causes a destructive area greater than a 2000lb WWII naval shell. You aren't shooting moving targets with this system, you are destroying the city block that the moving object happens to be in. |
| Lion in the Stars | 02 Mar 2015 7:28 p.m. PST |
That's some fire control problem if it's a moving target ( about 3 minutes flight time?). Less than that. Given an average speed of Mach 8 (~2300m/s), time of flight is about 140sec. That's about the same time of flight as the 16" guns on the Iowas. Presumably they would need some sort of terminal guidance. Not necessarily, since the major AOE "shell" is basically a compressed block of tungsten cubes, set to pop at a precise time/altitude. |
| PHGamer | 05 Mar 2015 7:49 a.m. PST |
Another take on the rail gun from the Duffelblog:
link |
tries out the expansion roads set.
