US Laser and Rail Gun Development News

I seriously doubt that a shell fired from a traditional, gunpowder based cannon can exceed the exit velocity of something fired by a railgun.
since you quoted me ... perhaps you missed the sentence
"No, it wouldn’t hit speeds of Mach 7 (topping out closer to Mach 3), but that’s twice as fast as a normal round fired from a 5-inch powder gun."
in the article I posted in https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/us-laser-and-rail-gun-development-news.t5879/page-22#post-400616

by the way I recalled (and found :) the discussion comparing big naval guns with respect to the muzzle velocity:
Apr 23, 2015
I think I found the winner :) the German SKC/28 11" (actually 283 mm bore) (on Lutzow, Adm. Scheer, Adm. Graf Spee) with 910 m/s and combat-proven ... and if you don't like it because these ships were (very heavy) cruisers: the SKC/34 11" on Scharnhorst and Gneisenau with 890 m/s
910/340 = 2.68
 

siegecrossbow

General
Staff member
Super Moderator
since you quoted me ... perhaps you missed the sentence
"No, it wouldn’t hit speeds of Mach 7 (topping out closer to Mach 3), but that’s twice as fast as a normal round fired from a 5-inch powder gun."
in the article I posted in https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/us-laser-and-rail-gun-development-news.t5879/page-22#post-400616

by the way I recalled (and found :) the discussion comparing big naval guns with respect to the muzzle velocity:
Apr 23, 2015

910/340 = 2.68

Mach 3 doesn't sound like it's "almost as much as" Mach 7 though. Guess it really boils down to what the requirements are.
 
Mach 3 doesn't sound like it's "almost as much as" Mach 7 though.
now I have problem with the second part of that sentence
"No, it wouldn’t hit speeds of Mach 7 (topping out closer to Mach 3), but that’s twice as fast as a normal round fired from a 5-inch powder gun."
as I realized the muzzle velocity of
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had been 760 m/s which means 760/340 = M2.24 and "twice as fast" would mean almost Mach four and a half LOL!

(on a side note, I checked
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800+ m/s! depending on the shell)

Guess it really boils down to what the requirements are.
it seems they think they don't need M7 anymore (according to the sentence I quoted in
https://www.sinodefenceforum.com/us-laser-and-rail-gun-development-news.t5879/page-22#post-400616
 

Equation

Lieutenant General
:)
also Brumby quoted me :) so I have dumb sounding question:

can "EMRG rounds" maneuver?

Why not? Think about it, EMRG rounds don't have to carry any propellant or rocket fuel to fly through the atmosphere, therefore the extra room can be a bonus space to put in folded fins and electronics to receive signals for those fins to move the rounds to a different vector towards its intentional target.:)
 
:)

Why not? Think about it, EMRG rounds don't have to carry any propellant or rocket fuel to fly through the atmosphere, therefore the extra room can be a bonus space to put in folded fins and electronics to receive signals for those fins to move the rounds to a different vector towards its intentional target.:)
would it work at Mach seven? (I of course know about precision guided munitions which use fins etc. but they're shot with muzzle velocity of about Mach two)
 
I believe there is limited ability to adjust their trajectories to intercept a moving target but its effective range is up to 40 nm.
just thinking loud:

(1852*40)/(7*340) = 31 seconds to impact (would be slightly more because an EMRG round slowing in flight, but I don't care right now)

31 seconds, it's 7440 m for the Harpoon AShM (and more for supersonic missiles but I don't want to sound war-mongering :)

so, at 1852*40+31*240 = 81520 m at the latest! you need to estimate the trajectory of an incoming Harpoon (how will you do it?), and hope that trajectory won't change "abruptly" during the time your EMRG round flies to meet that Harpoon ... wait, 40 nm, so the correction for the curvature of Earth would be quite large :)

EDIT
Railgun in CIWS role, anyone? LOL
 
Last edited:

Brumby

Major
just thinking loud:

(1852*40)/(7*340) = 31 seconds to impact (would be slightly more because an EMRG round slowing in flight, but I don't care right now)

31 seconds, it's 7440 m for the Harpoon AShM (and more for supersonic missiles but I don't want to sound war-mongering :)

so, at 1852*40+31*240 = 81520 m at the latest! you need to estimate the trajectory of an incoming Harpoon (how will you do it?), and hope that trajectory won't change "abruptly" during the time your EMRG round flies to meet that Harpoon ... wait, 40 nm, so the correction for the curvature of Earth would be quite large :)
The issue is not just about estimating the incoming trajectory. More advanced cruise missiles are able to maneuver even in terminal flight. As such, EMRG has to retain sufficient kinetic momentum to correct its own trajectory to ensure a kill and the outer limit is estimated to be effective up to 40 nm. Quote from document :
"Now in development, EMRGs that fire GPS-guided or command-guided HVPs at hypersonic
speeds (greater than Mach 5) could intercept threat aircraft and missiles at medium ranges.
These projectiles will have a limited ability to adjust their trajectories to intercept a moving
target. Therefore, the longer a target has to maneuver, the lower the probability an EMRG
round will engage it successfully. For example, an HVP traveling at Mach 7 would take 20 seconds
to reach a Mach 2 cruise missile located 30 nm from the HVP’s launch point. Although
the Navy’s developmental 32-megajoule (MJ) EMRG is capable of firing an HVP about 100 nm
against a surface target, beyond 30–40 nm an unpowered HVP may not be able to adjust its
flight path sufficiently to intercept a maneuvering cruise missile."
 

strehl

Junior Member
Registered Member
Seems like any HEL news is usually a defense contractor talking about its' own IR&D developments. Actual government programs are few and small potatoes compared to what they used to be.

 
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