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\nRail Gun<\/p>\n
\nRail Gun<\/p>\n
The folks at NavSea have shut down a pet project- the electro-magnetic rail gun (EMRG). For our nautically challenged members, the EMRG is a weapon that uses electricity instead of gunpowder to send projectiles downrange. They use magnetic fields created by high electrical currents to accelerate a projectile to Mach 6, or about 5,400 miles an hour. The velocity is sufficient to give the EMRG an effective range of 110 nautical miles, or 126 miles on land. Kyle Mizokami<\/strong><\/p>\n The U.S. Navy is finally canceling its electromagnetic railgun development program.<\/p>\n The railgun appears to be the victim of the service\u2019s new emphasis on great power competition.<\/p>\n Although impressive, the railgun has been overshadowed by other weapons, particularly hypersonics.<\/p>\n The U.S. Navy\u2019s push to create a $500 million electromagnetic railgun weapon\u2014capable of slinging projectiles at hypersonic speeds\u2014appears to have come to an end. The service is ending funding for the railgun without having sent a single weapon to sea, while pushing technology derived from the program into existing weapons.<\/p>\n The weapon is a victim of a change in the Navy\u2019s direction toward faster, longer-range weapons that are capable of striking ships and land targets in a major war.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Advances in hypersonic technology are continuing in conjunction with the Army, with work on a Common Hypersonic Glide Body (C-HGB) even now under test at the Pacific Missile Range Facility, Kauai, Hawaii.<\/p>\n National Defense Magazine<\/a><\/p>\n
\nAnd range is part of the problem. The other issues, besides the $500,000,000 in sunk costs, is there are hardly any ships capable of employing the system. To drive the final nail home, the service is adapting the system’s projectile- the hypervelocity projectile (HVP)- to fire from a traditional gunpowder-based gun. These Mk-45 5″54 caliber naval guns are already in the Fleet on Arleigh Burke<\/em> DDGs and Ticonderoga<\/em> CGs.
\nUsual Suspects send.<\/p>\nThe Navy’s Railgun Is Finally Dead<\/h3>\n