Daily Mail: Is the US Navy set to kill off the railgun? Experts say 10 year, $500m project could be abandoned to focus on laser weapons and 'hypervelocity warheads'
* Railgun exceeds accelerations of Mach 6, which is six times the speed of sound
* It uses electromagnetic energy to propel a metal projectile at huge speeds
* Navy has been working on the gun since 2005 and say it is the future of warfare
It has been under development for more than a decade, and cost more than $500m - but the US Nay's railgun may never fire a shot in combat, it has been revealed.
According to Task & Purpose, the project may not get the funding it needs to become a reality.
They claim the funds for the project are likely to be funneled away to rival systems, including laser weapons.
Read more ....
WNU Editor: The U.S. Navy's focus right now is to develop lasers. Too bad .... the technology behind the rail-gun is impressive.
More News On Reports That The U.S. Navy May Kill Off It's Electronic Railgun
The U.S. Navy's Railgun May Never See Combat -- Popular Mechanics
US Navy's deadly electromagnetic railgun might never go to battle, warns new report -- International Business Times
Railgun potentially cancelled: what went wrong for the US superweapon? -- Naval Technology
Off Target: US Navy’s $500 Million Electromagnetic Rail Gun on Chopping Block -- Sputnik
1 comment:
It is a cool cannon but is not what the future will be like. The future of armed confrontation between state actors will be based on networked swarms of drones, non-stationary weapons, lasers etc. It is one of the cases when a research in one area has been overtaken by others.
Plus, the desired lethality and strike capability of these projectiles stays at about half the velocity even if moved to traditional powdered cannons. No object - ship, or landbased object - would likely withstand the power already achieved. And, if indeed more power is needed (for bunkers, which would never be targeted by such a weapons anyways) or other vertically reinforced structures (where it would be more appropriate), there is a plethora of weapon choices already available. So, I think it's good they re-purpose parts of this research project, and not completely scrap it, but it's also good they focus more on lasers and swarm, networked attack and def technologies.
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