The Navy's Giant New Electric Railgun

did they copy the name of this gun from unreal tournament

sounds like a copyright issue
 
Rail Guns were theoretical before UT and I think Quake was the first game with Rail Guns wasn't it?
 
In before someone bitches about the way government spends money and trying to start stupid political flamewars. Oh wait...


We may be bankrupt but we sure do make some neat toys!

Why can't anyone be excited for new tech, just because its new tech? Sure its a railgun, but the ability to accelerate projectiles like this have numerous applications such as transportation and space technologies. Its better to let the military with it enormous and previously allocated budget lay the groundwork for other companies to build upon.
 
In before someone bitches about the way government spends money and trying to start stupid political flamewars. Oh wait...




Why can't anyone be excited for new tech, just because its new tech? Sure its a railgun, but the ability to accelerate projectiles like this have numerous applications such as transportation and space technologies. Its better to let the military with it enormous and previously allocated budget lay the groundwork for other companies to build upon.
I was pretty excited seeing updated info on this .... Mech Warrior & Gamma World here we come... They totally had me over the top with the jelly doughnuts , Yummmm jelly doughnuts :D .
 
Why can't anyone be excited for new tech, just because its new tech? Sure its a railgun, but the ability to accelerate projectiles like this have numerous applications such as transportation and space technologies. Its better to let the military with it enormous and previously allocated budget lay the groundwork for other companies to build upon.

Most people don't correlate that tons of stuff we use were first developed by the military.
 
Most people don't correlate that tons of stuff we use were first developed by the military.

Including this thing we are using right now...that's changed society and helped in creating a more tightknit, singular society in the world (The implications of such a thing can be argued elsewhere, lol). Original idea came from the military's desire to create a multipoint redundant network for our (USA's) nuclear missile network.


On topic, this is badass as all hell....though it kind of makes me think it's one step closer to the whole GI Joe WMD that fired a ?Tungsten? rod from Outer Space that was able to decimate all of London with its mass/velocity alone. While the physics don't add up in real life, a space based railgun with a couple hundred lbs of explosive payload would sure make for an excellent strike platform.
 
In before someone bitches about the way government spends money and trying to start stupid political flamewars. Oh wait...




Why can't anyone be excited for new tech, just because its new tech? Sure its a railgun, but the ability to accelerate projectiles like this have numerous applications such as transportation and space technologies. Its better to let the military with it enormous and previously allocated budget lay the groundwork for other companies to build upon.

Don't know what you mean by "previously allocated". If the Navy want's a Rail Gun they put it in their budget and contract it's development. If they don't put it in their budget then their budget is one Rail Gun Development contract smaller unless they Budget for a different toy instead.
 
its cheaper to shoot projectiles from a rail gun and saver. otherwise, ships need to store powder along with the projectiles. also, saves room. no need for a powder room.

if there was a ship on ship battle, powder room pretty much takes out most of the ship and the ability to fight if hit.
 
can't edit.

to add from my post.


also, there is no need for have full ammo cartridges. all you need is projectiles, no powder, no brass cases, no primers. saves weight and room. you could store more projectiles then before.

the equipment to move around ammo cartridges may no longer be needed. more room to save. they could just need a tube like feed device or hand feed it.
 
can't edit.

to add from my post.


also, there is no need for have full ammo cartridges. all you need is projectiles, no powder, no brass cases, no primers. saves weight and room. you could store more projectiles then before.

the equipment to move around ammo cartridges may no longer be needed. more room to save. they could just need a tube like feed device or hand feed it.

That's one way to look at it.

OTOH, while it can remove one of your weakness, it concentrates the weakness onto one part of the ship: the powerplant. Previously if the power plant was hit, the ship could theoretically still fire cartridges, since the performance of each individual round were not dependent on ship being powered. Removing powder has the advantage that you can carry more ammunition, but you also have an additional disadvantage in that if the ship's powerplant is damaged or otherwise out of action, your ship is effectively dead. You also pretty much force every ship with those to have a nuclear powerplant installed to power the gun.

Of course, this disadvantage may be completely outweighed by the advantages of the rail guns.

Now we need to develop weapons that does not consume ammo (energy weapons for example), or can make its own ammo by using material from its surroundings.
 
Glad to see they went with a more aerodynamic round that simply leaves the sabot when it exits the barrel, was wondering about what kind of accuracy they think they could get off one of this firing a U shape projectile with a flat head at the end.
 
When virtually no one but your central bank (The Fed) buys your debt... guess what... your country is a dead man walking... go see how Greece and Venezuela is doing for an idea where this is going.
 
No gun powder or flammable propellant means MUCH safer to have on board a ship. If there's nothing explosive in the magazine, then far less deadly than stuff that goes Ka-BOOOM!
 
I just want a miniature rail gun. One of my many never have time to pursue projects.
 
Still it is only a prototype because there isn't any material able to withstand the strain of more than a couple shots prior to failure... imagine if you would go to war with a carbine that was only able to shoot up to 6 cartridges prior to jamming permanently.
 
Still it is only a prototype because there isn't any material able to withstand the strain of more than a couple shots prior to failure... imagine if you would go to war with a carbine that was only able to shoot up to 6 cartridges prior to jamming permanently.
As long as they keep getting the federal grant money to keep working out the bugs!
 
When virtually no one but your central bank (The Fed) buys your debt... guess what... your country is a dead man walking... go see how Greece and Venezuela is doing for an idea where this is going.

yes and no. Since our country don't produce a lot of stuff anymore combined with the dollar reserve currency status, that printed money gets exported to foreign countries for real goods and services and cause inflation overseas. In other words we have been stealing from the rest of world for a while now by exchanging cheap green paper with actual stuff. It has sustained our comparatively extravagant lifestyle and will continue to do so for as long as we have a superior military that forces the world to continue using the dollar reserve. Venezuela and Greece don't have reserve currency nor strong military so prolific state spending will bankrupt them pretty fast.

This railgun will help ensure that no one can threaten our dollar hegemony. The problem is we have overused the stick.
 
Once they perfect this and make it so it has a decent ROF warfare as we know it will be changed forever. Nothing will survive a sustained assault of this kind of power.
 
yes and no. Since our country don't produce a lot of stuff anymore combined with the dollar reserve currency status, that printed money gets exported to foreign countries for real goods and services and cause inflation overseas. In other words we have been stealing from the rest of world for a while now by exchanging cheap green paper with actual stuff. It has sustained our comparatively extravagant lifestyle and will continue to do so for as long as we have a superior military that forces the world to continue using the dollar reserve. Venezuela and Greece don't have reserve currency nor strong military so prolific state spending will bankrupt them pretty fast.

This railgun will help ensure that no one can threaten our dollar hegemony. The problem is we have overused the stick.

I think we've walked a bit like Igor...one foot moves along gently while the other plods around making all kinds of noise. We've tried using the stick a bit to even out our stride but we still just fumble around everywhere we go.
 
sounds like the thinking back in the BB days put a bigger gun on your ship and win. however something like this has to be cheaper then shooting missiles at every thing?
 
sounds like the thinking back in the BB days put a bigger gun on your ship and win. however something like this has to be cheaper then shooting missiles at every thing?

That's the intended use. The missiles we prefer to use costs ... lots:eek: but this is to solve that problem, all the while being much more mobile/deployable.
 
What? It is literally impossible for the government to go bankrupt. The word doesn't even make sense in that context.

I guess if you believe that the government controls the definitions, it will never call itself bankrupt.

So it may never by legal definition go bankrupt, but the debt payments are only a decade to two away from driving the debt itself which is a positive feedback loop, at which point people will stop lending to us. Then these's no free money for anyone.

I don't get the pretending there are no consequences officer Brady schtick.
 
I guess if you believe that the government controls the definitions, it will never call itself bankrupt.

So it may never by legal definition go bankrupt, but the debt payments are only a decade to two away from driving the debt itself which is a positive feedback loop, at which point people will stop lending to us. Then these's no free money for anyone.

I don't get the pretending there are no consequences officer Brady schtick.

Monetary sovereign nations that create their own currency cannot go bankrupt. It's not a legal definition, it's just reality. Too many people try to compare government debt and spending to personal debt and spending, and they are nothing alike. The government could wipe out the debt with the stroke of a pen. It would be stupid to do so of course, but they can. People just get caught up in these big scary debt numbers when they have no idea what it actually means. Paying off the debt or even trying hard to pay it down would be STUPID and send us into a deep depression.
 
So when North Korea gets one of these does this mean their glorious leader will start doing executions by rail gun?
 
Please tell me this is sarcasm...

Why would it be sarcasm? Look it up. The government cannot go bankrupt because the US dollar is not controlled by another nation or entity, and it's not based on a finite commodity or resource. The USD is fiat money. It's literally made up out of thin air and has no value at all other than the backing of the government saying that it can be used to pay all debts. You cannot run out of made up money. There isn't a fixed supply.

And before anyone says we should move back to something like the gold standard, tying your money to a physical and somewhat rare commodity would result in massive deflation and little or no economic growth. It's stupid and we are much better off without it.
 
Caseless ammo will replace current ammo way before this does in any practical application. Also for the most part, aren't large cannons mostly obsolete anyways? Big cannon equals big target for missiles. Carriers with airplanes rule the seas these day, not battleships.

I'd think developing a cannon that fires a small round and fires multiple a second would be much more useful for a defensive weapon against missiles at first. I'd think that would at least be less stressful on the weapon.
 
yes and no. Since our country don't produce a lot of stuff anymore combined with the dollar reserve currency status, that printed money gets exported to foreign countries for real goods and services and cause inflation overseas. In other words we have been stealing from the rest of world for a while now by exchanging cheap green paper with actual stuff. It has sustained our comparatively extravagant lifestyle and will continue to do so for as long as we have a superior military that forces the world to continue using the dollar reserve. Venezuela and Greece don't have reserve currency nor strong military so prolific state spending will bankrupt them pretty fast.

This railgun will help ensure that no one can threaten our dollar hegemony. The problem is we have overused the stick.

Quote

"dollar reserve currency status"

And that alone is the only reason that our arse's have been saved so far. When we lose that reserve status which we will, then watch out because the crap will hit the fan. Read up on what the IMF is working on to prepare for. It ain't good and it does involve the USA and it's printing press aka reserve status. Yes the Federal Reserve is the sole buyer of last resort of our debt. The fed can not do this forever, there are consequences to such actions.

The line in the sand is 20 trillion dollars of reported debt. Now we all know that the real debt is much higher than the 18 or so trillion being reported now. When we reach 20 trillion ( reportable ) all bets are off so watch out. It will get ugly here rather quickly.
 
That's the intended use. The missiles we prefer to use costs ... lots:eek: but this is to solve that problem, all the while being much more mobile/deployable.
Bingo. The goal is pinpoint accuracy and extremely accurate response. The scenario is this: you get intel that Terrorist X is in a building at address Y. A destroyer or other installation 200 miles away fires a few of these projectiles, which arrive 30 seconds later, demolishing the building and leaving the rest of the neighborhood intact.

Reduced collateral damange, safer for the ship (no explosives!), no duds, pinpoint accuracy, extremely rapid response, low per-round cost....the list goes on.

The only major hurdle left, AFAIK, is the issue with the rails wearing out rapidly. If they can't fix that, I wonder if they could engineer the weapon to enable really fast barrel changes. It's still be a heck of a lot cheaper than using a $1M Tomahawk cruise missile.
 
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