Pentagon to Accelerate Rail Gun Projectile Weapon - Fires From Army Howitzer

[rangerrebew]

Pentagon to Accelerate Rail Gun Projectile Weapon - Fires From Army Howitzer
[Kris Osborn]
Kris Osborn
Sunday at 2:41 PM

The Navy is accelerating developmental testing of its high-tech, long-range Electro-Magnetic Rail Gun Hyper Velocity Projectile -- such that it can fire from existing weapons platforms such as an Army Howitzer.

An Army Howitzer is now firing a super high-speed, high-tech, electromagnetic Hyper Velocity Projectile, initially developed as a Navy weapon,  an effort to fast-track increasing lethal and effective weapons to warzones and key strategic locations, Pentagon officials said.

Overall, the Pentagon is accelerating developmental testing of its high-tech, long-range Electro-Magnetic Rail Gun by expanding the platforms from which it might fire and potentially postponing an upcoming at-sea demonstration of the weapon, Pentagon and Navy officials told Scout Warrior. 

http://www.scout.com/military/warrior/story/1675096-most-read-2016-howitzer-fires-rail-gun-round?utm_source=RealClearDefense+Morning+Recon

[thackney]

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.

Kinetic energy weapons are more difficult to defend against.  While a Phalanx close-in weapon system can defeat a missile attack, it would do little against a mass at this speed.

[Cripplecreek]

Kinetic energy weapons are more difficult to defend against.  While a Phalanx close-in weapon system can defeat a missile attack, it would do little against a mass at this speed.

With the momentum a rail gun projectile would carry a Phalanx gun would need to start hitting it a long way out and keep hitting it to kill the momentum.

A rail gun has potential as a hell of a space based weapon as well.

[thackney]

With the momentum a rail gun projectile would carry a Phalanx gun would need to start hitting it a long way out and keep hitting it to kill the momentum.

A rail gun has potential as a hell of a space based weapon as well.

From the article:

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 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.

Due 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 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. The rate of fire is 10-rounds per minute, developers explained at last years' briefing.

The 0.22 lb,  3,650 fps sabot from the Phalanx is going to have to hit the projectile 460 times to equal the momentum of the railgun projectile, or about half the magazine in the Phalanx.

http://www.navweaps.com/Weapons/WNUS_Phalanx.php

Of course the 45 lb projectile is going to fragmenting if stuck many times.  The energy of impact could be significantly reduced, but darned tough to stop, especially a second shot.

[Smokin Joe]

Perhaps not practical as a weapon, but interesting concepts nonetheless:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ram_accelerator
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Light-gas_gun