Future weapons: Rail gun

Why would someone build a silly thing like that?

Reply to
Pete C.
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This is a very interesting link on the proximity fuse. Read the letter from the guy that was testing the prox fuse on the v2 in England.

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John

Reply to
John

Funny story about the fuse

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Reply to
John

It would make a heck of a good pork barrel (like in gun) project.

John

Reply to
John

At the time the photocell proximity fuse was all they had - the radar-based one came a couple of years later.

The "daylight only" restriction wasn't a problem, though, since the FW-200s and FW-190s didn't operate at night against coastal shipping.

The same RN group developed quite a number of arcane devices for use on merchantmen: the Parachute And Cable [a rocket that would deploy a steel cable with a small parachute on each end that acted as a disposable barrage balloon], the Holman Projector [a cannon that used high-pressure steam to propel grenades to about 1000 feet], the Free Balloon Barrage [untethered hydrogen-filled balloons that supported a long length of piano wire (terminated with a small parachute) from a contact-fused explosive] and the Hedgehog anti-submarine weapon to name only a few.

Reply to
RAM³

"John" wrote\

Is that why they call it a rail gun?

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

Oh hell yes..Big Bertha shacked up with Redi Kilowatt........and the bastard children are....

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Also...

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HSM links

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Gunner

"Deep in her heart, every moslem woman yearns to show us her t*ts" John Griffin

Reply to
Gunner

wrong type of rail gun - has nothing to do with a train - think electromagnetic acceleration of copper rods to hypersonic speeds

Reply to
William Noble

So it won't be there when counterbattery fire comes back?

Wes S

Reply to
clutch

That was pretty punny Wes.....LOL.

Pete

Reply to
Pete Snell

That was v-ONE, not v-TWO! A difference of only about 3800 MPH! The V1 was hard to hit because it was so small. I have some real doubts about the story, with Tennessee hillbillies and radar-guided guns. I don't know anyone who hunts squirrels by radar.

Jon

Reply to
Jon Elson

--Actually the technology has two applications, the most likely one being as a catapult to launch aircraft in the nextgen aircraft carriers. As for using it as a projectile launcher the main advantage isn't distance, but speed and it'll probably wind up being used for point defence more than for land bombardment. As for launching projectiles 200 miles that's nothing; do a little googling on a character name of Gerald Bull. Before he was whacked by an Israeli commando team he was lobbing artillery shells from the US/Canadian border into the Gulf of Mexico. And this was maybe a decade and more ago.

Reply to
steamer

In article , snipped-for-privacy@sonic.net says... As for launching projectiles 200 miles that's nothing; do

I've read a little about the guy and don't remember that story. It sounds like the sort of thing he'd have *liked* to do, but I don't believe it ever happened for two reasons. First, even ignoring air resistance, a muzzle velocity of Mach

12 would be required for a trajectory from London, Ontario that'd clear Talahassee. Move the gun to a more plausible launch site, and factor in air resistance, and that number gets much larger. Second even if the preparations were carried out in secret, one such shot would have created an international incident, insuring there would never be a second firing.

Ned Simmons

Reply to
Ned Simmons

I think you missed the point, Jon. The looooootenit had to tell 'em something and he couldn't mention the classified prox fuze being used, so he spun a bit of a yarn.

A training Sgt kidded me a lot about "Kentucky windage" during initial rifle familiarization in the Army. Geez, I didn't know anything about adjustable sights at the time, I wuz jist figgerin' out whar thet sucker shot so's I'd know whar to aim later.

Reply to
Don Foreman

If I understand the problem correctly, the closing rates are so fast that an a chemical based explosion is too slow to do much good. Touching of a nuke might get the job done but then it would be hell on non hardened electronics near the blast.

Wes S

Reply to
clutch

I think all of you must have missed the fact that this "rail gun" can only be fired 8 times a DAY!!!! I cannot think of a good reason to have such a slow firing weapon.

Jim

snipped-for-privacy@lycos.com wrote:

Reply to
James Askew

It's not even the G forces that do the damage. It is what is called the J or jolt, which is the derivative of the G force, or the time rate of change of the G force. Its like the difference between running into a brick wall at 60 mph and running into sandat the same speed.

John

Reply to
john

The are working on shell that will also glide using pop out wings, and controlled by gps. Once the shell has the altitude, the gliding distance is much more than a standard arc of a shell.

John

Reply to
john

--Read about it in IDR ages ago; will see if I can dig up some more info.

Reply to
steamer

Imagine the voice of Rod Serling:

You're a defense contractor. You want to cement your financial status and that of your family for the next 2,000 years. Billy needs braces and Kathy needs counseling. Your wife needs a boob job. You can build this for the government, and enter into ..........

The Twilight Zone of Needless Weapons Programs ...........

theme music playing in the background ............

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

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