Em railguns use electrical current to accelerate a projectile at extremely high. The package must fit within the mass jul 19, 2018 guidance information the railgun may direct the projectile either by aiming a steerable rail mount or by guidance inflight by the projectile projectile reloads. In contrast, a railgun can accelerate a projectile to hypersonic velocities of 2500 ms or mach 7 and greater, enabling more that 200 nautical mile ranges within a sixminute time of flight. Navys hypervelocity railgun could be a gamechanger if. In the second part of this blog series, we begin modeling the railgun system itself. General atomics electromagnetic systems gaems announced that it has successfully tested hypersonic projectiles with an enhanced guidance electronics unit geu during multiple firings from its three megajoule 3 mj blitzer railgun system. Meant for ship, land and mobile platforms the railgun will be tested at.
They were successful in tests during multiple firings from their three mega joule 3 mj blitzer railgun system. Its latest weapon is an electromagnetic railgun launcher. Army dugway proving ground in utah, general atomics said sunday. Latest steelpunching, hypersonic railgun projectiles test. With projectile flight times on the order of six minutes, railgun fires will be much. The physics of the railgun this demo is safe for you to try at home if you have an actual magnetic compass. The ap shell has a hardened case to penetrate a tank or bunker and a delayed, smaller explosive to det. Amir chaboki, program manager for bae systems navy em gun. When mated to a railgun, it will create a shipboard defense system unlike. May 15, 2017 one example of such hypersonic weapon is general atomics blitzer electric railgun system, which uses electromagnets to accelerate a projectile clad in a sabot at up to 60,000 gs until it can not. A railgun is a device, typically designed as a weapon, that uses electromagnetic force to launch. General atomics new 10 mj railgun system moves to dugway. Ga 3 megajoule railgun firing and building new 10 megajoule. Navys electromagnetic railgun is essentially a superweapona cannon that uses no chemical propellants to fire a tungsten projectile at speeds up to mach 7.
San diego, ca, 10 may 2017 general atomics electromagnetic systems gaems announced today that their hypersonic projectiles with an enhanced guidance electronics unit geu have been successfully tested during multiple firings from the organizations three mega joule 3 mj blitzer railgun system. Navys bae railgun shoots projectile 203 kilometers at mach 7. A scenario for a future european shipboard railgun. Latest steelpunching, hypersonic railgun projectiles testfired. The company said the enhanced geu containing a new battery configuration and running gaems developed guidance, navigation. A conventional cannon has some type of shell in a tube. Railgun from what ive gathered from wikipedia the railgun is more of an artillery weapon, striking targets from vast distances with high impact force. In general, the larger the initial html the more railgun can help. May 10, 2017 blitzer railgun tests continue record of success. Navy experimental rail gun to fire gpsguided projectiles. Not content with just merely building the launch platform, we are also pursuing the development of a hyper velocity projectile hvp.
General atomics electromagnetic systems 10 mega joule. The listener requires a single port open onto the internet for the railgun protocol so that cloudflare data centers can contact it. This was demonstrated by the 33mj muzzle energy shot performed in 2010 in the framework of the of. The hyper velocity projectile hvp from bae systems is the latest fad that military observers have latched onto. Railguns fire projectiles made of any strong, high melting point and good conductivity metal.
Railgun listener is a single executable whose only dependency is a running memcache instance. The pentagon wants to fire railgun projectiles from army. The system eliminates the need for gun propellant or rockets, allowing additional rounds to be in the ships magazine, providing the ability to engage more targets, boucher said. Railgun wikipedia magnetic properties of the projectile are not interesting. Electromagnetic em railgun bae systems united states. It uses a form of electromagnetic energy known as the lorentz force to hurl a 23pound projectile at speeds exceeding mach 7. The issue for congress is whether to approve, reject, or modify the navys funding requests and. Since the current is in the opposite direction along each rail, the net magnetic field between the rails b is directed at right angles to the. Apr 07, 2016 conventional artillery munitions use either explosive or amour piercing explosive projectiles.
Introduction an electromagnetic railgun is a device designed to launch a projectile at high speeds. The railgun uses electrical energy to create a magnetic field and propel a 23pound kinetic energy projectile at mach 7. Some electromagnetic considerations for design of railgun. Successful projectile component testing was completed earlier this year, with multiple firings at launch accelerations over 30,000 gees. General atomics tests hypersonic railgun projectiles. Report on navy laser, railgun and gunlaunched guided projectiles. The navys electromagnetic railgun program currently seeks to provide.
Command guidance, as opposed to self guidance, involves direct control of the railgun projectile by the launching authority using such technologies as radio or wire, etc. How effective is a railgun compared to a conventional gun. The heppc provides additional capabilities to test gaems hypersonic projectiles, which contain a guidance control unit with guidance, navigation, and control software and a complex control actuation system. Jul 19, 2017 the hypervelocity projectile will carry a guided warhead capable of delivering diverse effects depending on the mission. Navy lasers, railgun, and gunlaunched guided projectile congressional research service 1 introduction issue for congress this report provides background information and issues for congress on three new shipbased weapons being developed by the navysolid state lasers ssls, the electromagnetic railgun. Because of its extreme speed, the projectile eliminates the hazards of storing high explosives in the. The formula would give a railgun page load time of 1. Electromagnetic railgun first shot commissioning series. The enhanced geu containing a new battery configuration and running gaems developed guidance, navigation, and control software, completed testing at launch accelerations over 30,000 gees at the u. The proposed projectile concept possesses a socalled dualspin configuration. To prepare a charge, the ship stores electricity in the pulsed power system. General atomics completes successful open range testing of.
Because long rails pose design challenges, most rail guns use strong currents on the order of a million amps to generate tremendous force. A future capability critical to fielding a real railgun weapon is developing a robust guidance package that will allow the railgun to fire at distant targets or to hit incoming missiles. Naval electromagnetic em gun technology assessment dtic. General atomics test fires railgun projectile guidance. General atomics successfully tests railgun hypersonic. Next, an electric pulse is sent to the railgun, creating an electromagnetic force accelerating the projectile. Dec 05, 2017 hvp takes the projectile technology from the railgun program and adapts it to fire from existing u. This report provides background information and issues for congress on three potential new weapons that could improve the ability of navy surface ships to defend themselves against enemy missilessolid state lasers ssls, the electromagnetic railgun emrg, and the hypervelocity projectile hvp. The package must fit within the mass software and a complex control actuation system. Mar 26, 2017 watch as the office of naval research and naval surface warfare center, dahlgren division, conduct the first shot of the railgun at the terminal range november 17, 2016. Flight dynamics modeling of dualspin guided projectiles. One example of such hypersonic weapon is general atomics blitzer electric railgun system, which uses electromagnets to accelerate a projectile clad in a sabot at up to 60,000 gs until it can not. Navy lasers, railgun, and hypervelocity projectile.
A projectile is fired by a railgun in a 2009 navy test. The hypervelocity projectile hvp, which can fire from the navys. One example of such hypersonic weapon is general atomics blitzer electric railgun system, which uses electromagnets to accelerate a projectile clad in. Mar 15, 2016 general atomics has completed an open range testing exercise on a companybuilt railgun projectile guidance electronics unit the hypersonic projectiles for the guidance electronics unit worked to transmit component performance data to a ground station via a telemetry link during the tests conducted at the u. Navy, without fanfare or notice, tested a new weapon last summer that could revolutionize surface warfare. Navy lasers, railgun, and gunlaunched guided projectile. The projectile, under the influence of the lorentz force, accelerates to the end of the rails opposite the power supply and exits through an aperture. Guidance information the railgun may direct the projectile either by aiming a steerable rail mount or by guidance inflight by the projectile projectile reloads. Jun 15, 2017 the railgun uses magnetic fields generated by electricity to accelerate a metal conductor between two rails that then launch a projectile. Complete model of the railguns system including projectiles trajectory. In order to explore the firing accuracy of the guided projectile, the guidance precision analysis and. With the kind of speeds obtained by railgun projectiles and the ranges possible, command guidance will be of limited use. Background and issues for congress ronald orourke specialist in naval affairs may 25, 2016 congressional research service 75700. A scenario for a future european shipboard railgun stephan hundertmark and daniel lancelle abstractrailguns can convert large quantities of electrical energy into kinetic energy of the projectile.
For a similar projectile, the range of railguns may exceed that of conventional guns. We start by building a system architecture in sysml, then use syndeia to bring in. General atomics tests hypersonic railgun projectiles naval. The circuit is broken, which ends the flow of current. Apr 21, 2016 the railgun can strike targets 110 nautical miles away.
83 491 389 747 472 1079 935 487 1462 567 35 262 1006 467 274 43 270 263 447 65 1162 1350 1123 868 32 254 1400 1004 243 833 263 235 111 743 1493 1362 443 822 495 958 1019