Navy’s New Railgun Can Hurl a Shell Over 5,000 MPH

inb4 It's not a railgun! Theres muzzle flash!

That gun is just so awesome its exploding the air, no gunpowder. That bullet casing scrapes along the inside of the barrel.
 
What's the point of the gun except for probably being the most expensive one to fire per round? Seriously honest question????
 
pcjunkie said:
What's the point of the gun except for probably being the most expensive one to fire per round? Seriously honest question????
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Hey, those terrorists in their sandals and mud huts can run pretty fast, we need billion dollar weaponry to take them out.

I mean, I guess Russia is standing up again, but still. We outspend more than the next top 10 countries combined in defense spending; and I think about 8 of them are our allies. So yeah, clearly, the answer is: moar money and railguns! Because tax reform and schools (and old congress-people's bat-arms flapping while they sign meaningful legislation) doesn't make as cool slow-motion videos.
 
pcjunkie said:
What's the point of the gun except for probably being the most expensive one to fire per round? Seriously honest question????
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It's an alternative to missiles. If it ever hits production, it should be significantly cheaper to fire per round than a missile.
 
pxc said:
It's an alternative to missiles. If it ever hits production, it should be significantly cheaper to fire per round than a missile.
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So does it fire tracking missiles or rounds of ammunition? There's a pretty significant difference from a gun vs a missile? Or are these smart rounds like I've see non TV?
 
pcjunkie said:
What's the point of the gun except for probably being the most expensive one to fire per round? Seriously honest question????
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Actually it's a lot cheaper for the rounds. Here's an article for more info about this video.

25k per round compared to 500k missiles that they intend to replace hopefully.
 
TwistedAegis said:
I mean, I guess Russia is standing up again, but still. We outspend more than the next top 10 countries combined in defense spending; and I think about 8 of them are our allies. So yeah, clearly, the answer is: moar money and railguns! Because tax reform and schools (and old congress-people's bat-arms flapping while they sign meaningful legislation) doesn't make as cool slow-motion videos.
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How does spending compare now (compared to GDP) against when we were developing the atomic bomb or during the cold war with a lot of nuclear weapons?
 
Nice, we might need these soon against Russia/China is tensions continue to heat up
 
Ur_Mom said:
How does spending compare now (compared to GDP) against when we were developing the atomic bomb or during the cold war with a lot of nuclear weapons?
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I think China is really our focus in the "keeping up with the military jones" race. They are #2 in defense spending, and are increasing their budget by significant chunks every year. With them claiming ownership of islands that are currently recognized as being owned by Japan and the Philippines for example, there could be tumultuous times ahead in that region.

I don't think we'd ever go to war with China (who would we buy all that cheap Walmart crap from?), but it's probably enough of an incentive to stay current.
 
Agreed. China is our number one threat and has been for a while. Russia is a "has been".
 
I thought I remember reading once something about being on a boat and the recoil of the big guns. This is effectively a stationary gun with no recoil.
 
There is still recoil...you cannot accelerate something that fast in a short distance without it pushing back..."for every force there is an equal and opposite..." something or other :)
 
I know this video was just posted a few days ago, but I swear I have seen the exact same video from like a year or so ago.
 
jflail2 said:
I think China is really our focus in the "keeping up with the military jones" race. They are #2 in defense spending, and are increasing their budget by significant chunks every year. With them claiming ownership of islands that are currently recognized as being owned by Japan and the Philippines for example, there could be tumultuous times ahead in that region.

I don't think we'd ever go to war with China (who would we buy all that cheap Walmart crap from?), but it's probably enough of an incentive to stay current.
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More like who would buy all that U.S dept......
 
Ur_Mom said:
How does spending compare now (compared to GDP) against when we were developing the atomic bomb or during the cold war with a lot of nuclear weapons?
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That was during WWII and the entire country was in war mode - it was approximately 40% of GDP at that time. http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/files/2012/08/defense_gdp.jpg

People were also growing their own food in their lawns and re-using aluminum foil. Nowadays, we go to war and people want tax cuts.
 
jflail2 said:
I think China is really our focus in the "keeping up with the military jones" race. They are #2 in defense spending, and are increasing their budget by significant chunks every year. With them claiming ownership of islands that are currently recognized as being owned by Japan and the Philippines for example, there could be tumultuous times ahead in that region.

I don't think we'd ever go to war with China (who would we buy all that cheap Walmart crap from?), but it's probably enough of an incentive to stay current.
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China spends $166B per year while we spend $682. Our allies, combined, spend another $442B (not even including Turkey, another $18B). Russia and China, combined, spend $256B/year.
 
TwiceOver said:
I thought I remember reading once something about being on a boat and the recoil of the big guns. This is effectively a stationary gun with no recoil.
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It is indeed a stationary gun because it is mounted but there is recoil. It's just that the force is transferred to the ship. Force = mass * acceleration. Low mass * high acceleration = high mass * low acceleration. Whatever the gun is mounted to has such a high mass compared to the projectile that it doesn't move.
 
I'm not thinking this is a rail gun.
It seems like the shell is launched using sublimation, and then the electromagnetic rails further accelerate it.
 
TwistedAegis said:
China spends $166B per year while we spend $682. Our allies, combined, spend another $442B (not even including Turkey, another $18B). Russia and China, combined, spend $256B/year.
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Correct. Though I think China's spending is increasing at a much faster pace than ours (something like 13% for 2013-2014?), meaning they will be steadily closing that gap over the next decade. They have recently shown off a carrier landing jet, and have a stealth fighter in the works as well.
 
panhead said:
Can't feed or educate our children, but we have plenty of money for this waste :mad:
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Not sure if serious.

The public school "education" is designed to dumb down the masses. It keeps the few rich/powerful in control.

As for food... umm, where are you from? Dead beat parents who do not provide for their children are NOT the responsibility of the government.
 
When do we get the videos of game consoles, phones, and other tech hardware being shot with it? :D
 
pxc said:
It's an alternative to missiles. If it ever hits production, it should be significantly cheaper to fire per round than a missile.
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Slugs of metal don't care about point defense or electronic countermeasures, either. :D
 
J3RK said:
When do we get the videos of game consoles, phones, and other tech hardware being shot with it? :D
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At 25K a shot?

I'm sure top men have probably already done that. Top. Men.

"Hey, Phil. Give me your iPhone. Watch this.".

BOOM!

"Fuck, Dan. That was my phone. My wife is gonna be pissed".

I'd love to see it take out something big. Tank, building, something cool. Trucks? Sure, it's cool. But, there are other weapons for that. Take out something armored. Take out half a floor of people...
 
panhead said:
Can't feed or educate our children, but we have plenty of money for this waste :mad:
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The reason we spend money on military equipment like this is so we DON'T have to use it.
As long as China/Russia/Other big powers see that it will be a losing proposition to start a war, they won’t risk war.

Once we start falling behind, or even allow others to start catching up, we will have more conflicts and eventually wars.


As for feeding our children, that's the parents job. If you can't afford to feed your kids then don't have any.

As for education, how about we give everyone vouchers for 50% of what the public schools cost per student. A good private school cost much less that the local public schools, while delivering a much better educated kid.
 
Were off on a big tangent with school vouchers but they are just a subsidy for those who would be sendiing their kids to privite school regardless. Just another perk for the rich. A big reason privite schools and rich school districts have better teachers and therefore better educated students is because they pay top dollar for those teachers which attracts the talent.
 
nutzo said:
The reason we spend money on military equipment like this is so we DON'T have to use it.
As long as China/Russia/Other big powers see that it will be a losing proposition to start a war, they won’t risk war.

Once we start falling behind, or even allow others to start catching up, we will have more conflicts and eventually wars.
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Because with 2 friendly neighbors north and south, and 2 oceans east and west, we need a huge land force to discourage....?

Meanwhile, all the big powers have nukes. If that isn't enough to discourage someone, not sure what else will.
 
TwistedAegis said:
Meanwhile, all the big powers have nukes. If that isn't enough to discourage someone, not sure what else will.
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Only against other nuclear attacks. A conventional attack, we won't use them. Good deterrent for nuclear attack, but not much else. We won't retaliate with nukes if they don't use them first.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Only against other nuclear attacks. A conventional attack, we won't use them. Good deterrent for nuclear attack, but not much else. We won't retaliate with nukes if they don't use them first.
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Nukes would absolutely be launched if Russia or China were landing troops on American soil via air or sea. The conventional to match conventional is only on other countries' soil.
 
nutzo said:
The reason we spend money on military equipment like this is so we DON'T have to use it.
As long as China/Russia/Other big powers see that it will be a losing proposition to start a war, they won’t risk war.

Once we start falling behind, or even allow others to start catching up, we will have more conflicts and eventually wars.

As for feeding our children, that's the parents job. If you can't afford to feed your kids then don't have any.

As for education, how about we give everyone vouchers for 50% of what the public schools cost per student. A good private school cost much less that the local public schools, while delivering a much better educated kid.
Click to expand...

Go back to watch Faux News. The rest of the world is not spending this kind of money on military. Why is the US. Answer. military industrial complex and corrupt government. If parents could find work at a living wage they could feed their children. Good luck finding a private school for even 100% of the cost per student in public schools.
 
pcjunkie said:
What's the point of the gun except for probably being the most expensive one to fire per round? Seriously honest question????
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500-800 mile range, instead of 23 for an artillery shell, and nuclear powered ship, so power isn't a problem.
 
In before people go completely off topic and discuss political issues they rarely know anything about...oh wait...


This is a technology website. Can't you guys ever be happy that tech is advancing? Sure its a railgun now, but tomorrow it could be a catapult system to send you into outerspace.

If you want to talk politics, go to a political website.
 
Kalabalana said:
I'm not thinking this is a rail gun.
It seems like the shell is launched using sublimation, and then the electromagnetic rails further accelerate it.
Click to expand...

Pre-accelerating it does help mitigate a lot of the issues with a rail gun... So you're probably right.

I am surprised a company puts products on the web.... Even more surprised this isn't protected from being shown by US law...
 
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