"U.S. Navy Has A Radical New Weapon" Topic

" Warships carry dozens of conventional missiles, costing £600,000.00 GBP each
* Could be loaded with hundreds of railgun projectiles at only £15,000.00 GBP each
* Weapon uses speed rather than explosives to destroy its target
* Projectile has menacing Latin motto 'I, who am speed, eradicate'

A radical new weapon that can fire a shell at mach three and use existing warship guns is believed developed by the US Navy.

The new guided rounds were originally designed as part of the Navy's railgun project, which will fire them at mach 5 – but is not expected to be available until 2025.

However, Navy bosses now believe they can adapt the projectiles to be fired through normal guns – albeit at a slower Mach 3 speed…"
Full article here
link

Impressive!.

Amicalement
Armand

Now there's a good weapon for the foredeck of the LCS.

The military has been trying to develop railgun (and coilgun) technology for years. 2016 was the expected year for testing railguns; looks like they're on schedule.

Does the mark the return of the "all-gun" battleship? As in a ship with multiple turrets that serve as a ship's main battery? Has the "gun" found a way to compete with the missile?

Interesting stuff.

Mako, are you saying the LCS is "supposed" to carry weapons?

There was an article a few years ago that talked about the shell for the railgun and it's power-weight. Very interesting indeed. Have they figured out how to generate enough power for sustained firing?

There are issues with this idea – the rail itself burns out with use – rather fast actually. The power required is quite high, probably way too much for the LCS designs.

It's also – not exactly small and light…

The LCS design has been disappointingly "underweight" in terms of weaponry. It was designed to handle boat swarm attacks that may occur from Iranians, North Koreans and terrorists. It does not have the weapons set capable of fighting modern combatants like China or Russia armed with missile and air capabilities.

I doubt that it could generate constant current to power a railgun, but this new application of firing railgun shells thru conventional guns is very very promising. Seems like just a redesign of conventional naval shells to use smaller, lighter warheads.

Glad you enjoyed the article Tgunner! (smile)

Amicalement
Armand

I certainly hope so Striker, but given the current vector, the jury is still out on that, I suppose.

Perhaps they'll be useful for playing bumper boats with the smaller Chinese "Coast Guard" vessels in the SCS.

The motto is, for those of us who want the Latin and not just the translation:

Velocitas Eradico

Also, these power-hungry weapons (magnetics, lasers, etc.) would be a lot easier had we stuck with nuclear power for non-carrier surface combatants…

If you guys read the article, this is NOT directly about rail guns. It's about the fact that they found a way to fire rail gun projectiles through regular guns at Mach 3. Not as devastating as a railgun, but without the rail gun electricity requirements.

Tango's picture, listed in the article, is a standard railgun, but what makes this development interesting is the fact that they can start using these fairly soon while perfecting the railguns for later adoption.

I was confused by the article. It clearly was about an adaptation of rail gun shells from a standard 5" gun, but the diagrams are of the real rail guns, and the specs seem to change from one gun to another without proper annotation. He mentions a mach 3 shell for the 5"45 gun, mach 7 for the rail gun, then talks about a mach 5 shell. Where did that come in? Anyone else confused?

I was confused by the article. It clearly was about an adaptation of rail gun shells from a standard 5" gun, but the diagrams are of the real rail guns, and the specs seem to change from one gun to another without proper annotation. Anyone else confused?