new type of projectile weapon?

[Kevinkris]

so browsing random videos on youtube i find this video of a rather modestly powered electromagnetic gun that looks a bit interesting. its easy to say that its hardly dangerous but as it is in the video could put and eye out or leave a mild welt. im curious if you guys think it could raise legality questions if 'say someone makes one that has comparable power to a .22. considering this hold principles to failed experimental weapon and physics that are used in labs to product high speeds for mimicking "micro-meteors" in vacuum chambers, its not really that far fetched.

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[Stomper]

They're called rail guns and they are currently developing direct fire artillery versions of it. No amount of armor can withstand a projectile going at near light speed velocities.

 

[Sturmhimmel]

Well near light speed is a tad much, I think they currently go around mach 6 and have a 100mi range. They've done much with coil guns as of late, including full auto. As battery tech increases we could see some decent ones down the line.

 

[Kevinkris]

yea but im mostly referring to the more trivial hand held concept. also i havnt heard of any currently deployed rail guns for anything other than experimental purposes. being an electronic driven weapon its not trusted for reliability.

 

[Kevinkris]

Well near light speed is a tad much, I think they currently go around mach 6 and have a 100mi range. They've done much with coil guns as of late, including full auto. As battery tech increases we could see some decent ones down the line.

not to mention that is just a teen's garage creation.

 

[RicInOR]

Other uses include replacing the steam powered catapults on the air craft carriers and using the rail to launch air craft. Easier to match the weight. The Navy has this on a runway on a base - not sure if the fleet will ever go back to sea, but this is an option.

 

[elsie]

Two navy tests. First is made by BAE and the second is by GA:

U.S. Navy kicks off rail gun tests with a bang | Video | Reuters.com

Navy gets another hypersonic railgun, fires test shots | SmartPlanet


elsie

 

[Sturmhimmel]

yea but im mostly referring to the more trivial hand held concept. also i havnt heard of any currently deployed rail guns for anything other than experimental purposes. being an electronic driven weapon its not trusted for reliability.

I do believe that a machine with no moving parts would be deemed quite reliable. Ya gotta think a bit outside the box on these kinds of things. The typical sci-fi version of linear accelerators is for launching things like nukes or asteroids. Imagine a Navy destroyer (which they have equipped with such a device) being able to launch a nuclear artillery shell 100mi at mach 6. That's a pretty devastating idea.

As for the man portable coil gun, we just need a better power source.

 

[RicInOR]

Given the speed - Mach 6 - it can just be an inert round - ie lead or steel. 20, 100, 1000 lbs at 6500 ft/second is a lot of force.


Navy launching aircraft -
US navy launches first aircraft using emals - YouTube
Navy testing the Electro Magnetic Aircraft Launching System for aircraft carriers | AiirSource - YouTube

 

[jamesclipscomb]

it can be potentially powered by a ships reactor you wont have to carry powder and since the projectiles get there destructive power from kinetic enery intead of HE the individual projectiles are smaller and lighter for the equivalent power. more rounds or less weight overall. if they can develop it to the point of reliable rapid firing without having to disassemble to reload every time like current prototypes that would be really impressive. its very interesting to see working prototypes at all tho. toobad portable power supplies among other things arent up to the task of a man portable rail weapon. who knows tho with enough time and advances in the right fields it might get here sooner than we think. I also read something a while back about hypothetically using a little HE and a timer or proximity fuze (im guessing there) to fragment a projectile just before it impacts to shower the target with hypersonic shrapnel.

 

[jamesclipscomb]

lol that ended up longer than I thought it was.

 

[Kevinkris]

with the force they are talking about i dont think you would need it to fragment.

 

[U201491]

They're called rail guns and they are currently developing direct fire artillery versions of it. No amount of armor can withstand a projectile going at near light speed velocities.

They have been working on rail guns for more than 20 or 30 years now.
Getting them down to a usable size was the biggest obstacle. They are extreme lethal.