Update on the Navy Rail gun!

[Clay]

old news. they had that rail gun in the last transformers movie!

 

[Wabatuckian]

... and they already have countermeasures for the thing. Ceramic armor and polarized armor.

Josh

 

[Armed-N-Ready]

Thanks

Now I need a bigger safe.

 

[DarkRose]

... and they already have countermeasures for the thing. Ceramic armor and polarized armor.

Josh

Polarized Armor?

I use some Google-Fu and all I came up with was sci-fi space stuff from Eve Online, got any links? Sounds interesting...

 

[DarkRose]

The appeal is that it will be substantially cheaper than letting loose a bunch of cruise missles that cost 1-1.5mil a pop. Could have been useful in Lybia. Where we fired something like 128 of the things.

But ya, Boeing is expanding their market a bit, next we will see the Boeing AR-15!

I'd prefer a Lockheed AR-15, I bet it'd have a cooler logo, lol!

 

[Sparky481]

I guess One would have to OC with one. Hope they come out with a smaller CC model

 

[dl1911]

I don't think I have the right primers for that round...

No primers needed. I just wonder where I can get enough electricity to fire one. Do you think the neighbors will mind if I run a few extension cords off their houses?

 

[Calvin]

Not to rain on the parade, but what is the tactical role of this system? The days of gun duels between ships are over. Way over. Missiles from surface units, subs, and aircraft are the striking power of modern navies in combating other ships. Even at the unbelievable velocities attainable in this system hitting something moving beyond 25 miles or so will be very difficult or impossible without guided munitions. If someone could explain why this really really cool and expensive piece of kit is a must have for our navy I would be very grateful.

 

[22lr]

Not to rain on the parade, but what is the tactical role of this system? The days of gun duels between ships are over. Way over. Missiles from surface units, subs, and aircraft are the striking power of modern navies in combating other ships. Even at the unbelievable velocities attainable in this system hitting something moving beyond 25 miles or so will be very difficult or impossible without guided munitions. If someone could explain why this really really cool and expensive piece of kit is a must have for our navy I would be very grateful.

There may not be gun battles anymore, but the Navy still must maintain the ability to conduct Navel battle and emerge victorious against threats such as Iran, and China. You never exclusively plan for the threats you currently face, but the ability to face any future engagement. Not doing so is one of the main reasons we got destroyed by the Japs in the opening days of WWII. Talk to France about not preparing for threats............

Iran, North Korea, and China all have navies that we need to have the ability to counter. Guided munitions will be no problem for the larger diamater munitions, but still if you have eyes on target and a guy that knows how to call artillery you can direct artillery fire from space if you need to. Also the main role of artillery has never been against moving targets, but with the right math it would be theoretically possible. But these problems are the reason we will be building the test platform for what appears to be 6 years of planned testing.

 

[j706]

Unreal!! Stuff like like that renders explosive rounds obsolete.

 

[Calvin]

There may not be gun battles anymore, but the Navy still must maintain the ability to conduct Navel battle and emerge victorious against threats such as Iran, and China. You never exclusively plan for the threats you currently face, but the ability to face any future engagement. Not doing so is one of the main reasons we got destroyed by the Japs in the opening days of WWII. Talk to France about not preparing for threats............

Iran, North Korea, and China all have navies that we need to have the ability to counter. Guided munitions will be no problem for the larger diamater munitions, but still if you have eyes on target and a guy that knows how to call artillery you can direct artillery fire from space if you need to. Also the main role of artillery has never been against moving targets, but with the right math it would be theoretically possible. But these problems are the reason we will be building the test platform for what appears to be 6 years of planned testing.

I don't see how this answers my question in the least. Battles against Chinese naval units will not be conducted within visual gun combat ranges. Iranian speedboats can be handled with existing naval weaponry with ease. The threats from both of these nations really come from advanced anti-ship missiles. No railgun is going to help us against an anti-ship ballistic missile. As artillery, a railgun will not be helpful. An ultra flat trajectory weapon shooting dense rounds made for penetrating armor is simply not a game changer for modern naval tactics. We already have precision guided munitions from aircraft flying off the best and largest aircraft carriers in the world. We also have cruise missiles capable of precision strikes from surface and subsurface vessels at targets hundreds of miles away. No naval gun system will supplant these technologies.

Stealthy ship hulls, advanced radars, better terminal homing and longer range for anti ship and air defense missile weapons are game changers for modern naval combat. We should be pumping all of the funding for this project into those technologies.

I agree that the technology is cool, and actually could be useful in tanks and in man portable anti-material weapons. We should be working on power sources small enough and powerful enough to bring the technology into those applications. On a ship it will be useless unless a time warp transports the vessel back to the battle of Jutland, where it would immediately kick complete ass.

There is BIG money going into this project. I am simply asking what the tactical application requiring this to be finalized as a weapons system for naval vessels is. A satisfactory answer would vindicate the gargantuan expense (probably many times what they are publicizing) in these times of tight fiscal budgets (for everybody but the navy apparently). If this was an experimental step on the way to smaller railguns in useful applications, I would be cool with it. As a production weapons system for incorporation into our future naval units, it is ludicrous. I don't mind spending money on defense, but I am tired of spending it in stupid ways on stuff we don't need.

 

[Wabatuckian]

Polarized Armor?

I use some Google-Fu and all I came up with was sci-fi space stuff from Eve Online, got any links? Sounds interesting...

U.S. Military Uses the Force

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5469322483836077126&q=liquid+armor#

Then this stuff is actually transparent aluminum!

Air Force testing new transparent armor

Josh