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#11
12-12-2010, 01:42 AM
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Hey Peter, the reason we don't know is that we are involved... secret research bases... etc..
Dundrennan Range - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia David 
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#13
12-12-2010, 02:18 AM
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This has a long way to go to be a useful artillery system - a mach 6 projectile is 2,074 m/sec. A Rheinmetall 120mm tank gun max. muzzle velocity is 1750 m/sec. So the railgun at present isn't much of an increment on present guns.
However, a Mach 6 projectile on a ballistic (howitzer) trajectory should give ranges of 150+km. Might be a problem with aerodynamic heating of the projectile though. Regards, Charlie
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#14
12-12-2010, 07:05 AM
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Quote:
 We have a whole Base underneath us, and we know that they shift stuff around - things that go RUMBLE in the night.
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#15
12-12-2010, 09:05 AM
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Latest carrier designs have growth capability for laser/high power weaponry.
As a close-in weapon using a laser to disable a hypersonic carrier killer missile is only half the battle so to speak as you,ve then got hypersonic missile wreckage still coming at you. At least with these weapons rhough you,ve got more distance to try a shoot down.
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I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit. It's the only way to be sure. In progress: Canon Alice in Wonderland Tunnel House, Canon A340, Learning Blender
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#16
12-12-2010, 09:17 AM
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D-H mentioned orbital velocity as a selling point. This would be a much cheaper way of launching small satelites (like the ones used for the GPS system) than firing them off in rockets.
Wayne
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#17
12-12-2010, 11:33 AM
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Quote:
 fall.
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#18
12-12-2010, 12:08 PM
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The NAVY actually has a long range plan to develop electric weapons (rail guns for long range artillery and lasers for self defense) simple because the electric power is readily available on ship (any ship). Fully half of the ship's power is required to propel the ship the last 20% or so of its full speed. So unless the ship is a flank speed, there is plenty of reserve power available for electric power. The critical technology is power conditioning for the weapon at hand. A rail gun needs high current delivered over milliseconds. The battery system you see in the video is simple and cheap for R&D but would never be used in a weapon system. The most efficient storage system (both in KW/volume and KW per Kg) is rotating machinery - flywheels. If you spin up a flywheel and stop it very quickly (milliseconds) via induction, you can generate the required power and current. Back in the 1980's the SDI program was developing such technology - who knows where it is now.
The NAVY has advanced laser technology to the point of deploying a self-defense weapon system is possible. All the fiber laser needs is electricity and it can fire all day long. Look here: Raytheon and the U.S. Navy Use Fiber Laser to Destroy UAV targets
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John peace thru light
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#19
12-12-2010, 12:19 PM
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Thanks for this well-informed commentary, John. As I recall, the rail gun was one of the technologies being considered for the future combat system. Interesting stuff.
Don
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#20
12-12-2010, 03:10 PM
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Ringmaster, I didn't intend implying that LIMs are "conceptual" today....the class I mentioned was in 1964, when the LIM was still very much an oddity, and when hybrid cars were still not practical because of the four tons of computer they would need to control them. Needless to say, the technologies have evolved since then. I would not be surprised if they become the primary means of delivering supplies to the space station within what remains of my lifetime. It is, however, still very much science fiction to think that LIMs will ever be the means of providing personal transportation.
__________________
It's not good to have too much order. Without some chaos, there is no room for new things to grow.
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