5/16/2023 0 Comments Railgun projectileThe rate of fire is 10-rounds per minute, developers explained at last years' briefing.Ī kinetic energy hypervelocity warhead also lowers the cost and the logistics burden of the weapon, they explained.Īlthough it has the ability to intercept cruise missiles, the hypervelocity projectile can be stored in large numbers on ships. The hyper velocity projectile can travel at speeds up to 2,000 meters per second, a speed which is about three times that of most existing weapons. That is enough to accelerate a mass of approximately 45 pounds from zero to five thousand miles per hour in one one-hundredth of a second, Navy officials added at a briefing last Spring.ĭue to its ability to reach speeds of up to 5,600 miles per hour, the hypervelocity projectile is engineered as a kinetic energy warhead, meaning no explosives are necessary. The weapon releases a current on the order of 3 to 5 million amps - that’s 1,200 volts released in a ten millisecond timeframe, experts have said. That pulse-forming network is made up of capacitors able to release very large amounts of energy in a very short period of time. The weapon works when electrical power charges up a pulse-forming network. The railgun uses electrical energy to create a magnetic field and propel a kinetic energy projectile at Mach 7.5 toward a wide range of targets, such as enemy vehicles, or cruise and ballistic missiles. The weapon’s range, which can fire guided, high-speed projectiles more than 100 miles, makes it suitable for cruise missile defense, ballistic missile defense and various kinds of surface warfare applications. High-Speed, Long-Distance Electromagnetic Weapons Technology: The rail gun uses an electromagnetic current to fire a kinetic energy warhead up to 100 miles at speeds greater than 5,000 miles an hour, a speed at least three times as fast as existing weapons. The weapon will be fired against a floating target, in an effort to test the rail gun’s ability to destroy targets that are beyond-the-horizon, Navy officials said. The test shots, which will be the first of its kind for the developmental, next-generation weapon, will take place at Eglin Air Force Base, Fla.ĭuring the test, the rail gun will fire a series of GPS-guided hypervelocity projectiles at a barge floating on the ocean about 25 to 50 nautical miles away, Leonard explained In the upcoming at-sea firing of the weapon, the kinetic energy projectile will seek to hit, destroy or explosion at sea target from on-board the USNS Trenton, a Joint High Speed Vessel, service officials said. In the upcoming demonstration, which may be postponed or skipped, is planned for later this year. (This piece first appeared in Scout Warrior here.)ĭespite some of these ongoing considerations, Navy officials emphasize that no formal decisions have been made and that postponing the demonstration is, at this point, an idea being discussed, Leonard emphasized.
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