U.S. Navy to test Mach 7 rail gun at sea in 2016

[hardcore_gamer]

It might have a depleted uranium tip.

 

[Tatty_Two]

How many "rounds" to sink a warship, lets say similar in size to one of the current Arleigh Burke class Destroyers, anyone seen them alien warship things in the Battleship movie lol.

 

[lilhasselhoffer]

Thanks for the explanation. Apparently I had faulty info. I know I had read it was self guided, but as you've explained it that wouldn't make sense.

No harm, no foul. It's just difficult to understand when the terminology changes so often. Getting back to the physics removes some of the varied terminology.

The US likes to believe that it always has the smartest and best weapons. Far too often it is forgotten that "smart" bombs are dumb bombs with a strapped on tail fin. This system is exactly the same. It is, in practice, just a huge sling shot. It's fortunate that creative uses of the information science yields hasn't led to too many more ways for us to kill our fellow man.

 

[CJCerny]

Isn't madness such a sweet thing? Who does the US (or any major power) fight these days apart from smaller 2-3rd world countries? It's a fucking joke. We'll develop these uber weapons so next time Azbookiragastan threatens it's neighbour (who we have a vested commercial interest in) we can intervene with weapons of ominous portent.

But if China or Russia or North Korea do illegal things to it's neighbours or it's own citizens we'll shake our 2 bit fingers at them.

The day a nation develops a sleep cannon, I will rejoice. Or a love gun. Until then, all this posturing with super weapons is like taking a hard on into kindergarten. It is an abomination of humanity. Fuck war.

Well...there's a couple of reasons for working on this thing.

One, deterrence. The reason the major players don't fight anymore is because we can all turn each other to dust. If your enemies do not think they have an advantage, they will not consider attacking.

Two, there's nothing like plain old kinetic energy. Can't spoof it. Can't jam it. And, it this case, it's inert, so it does not present a danger to the supply chain, the vessel, or to populations when they accidentally unearth it 50 years after the fact.

 

[rtwjunkie]

It might have a depleted uranium tip.

Probably not. With that kind of kinetic energy behind it, there's no need for it.

 

[Sasqui]

How many "rounds" to sink a warship, lets say similar in size to one of the current Arleigh Burke class Destroyers, anyone seen them alien warship things in the Battleship movie lol.

My guess is these will be used for smaller, more tactical targets. Need some heavy explosives to take out the hull of a ship (or an alien craft with even more advanced weapons lol)... not to overstate the obvious!

 

[Vario]

I think this is awesome and would like one day for it to be mounted underneath or at the nose of a modern day A10 Warthog [RIP... too soon]. I don't know if that is even possible 10-20 years from now?

It's being placed for trials on THIS sweet looking ship.

Littoral Combat Ship... relabeled as a Joint High Speed Vessel
LOL just an overpriced ferry boat. They scrapped the LCS design because it was too puny for real combat. Now we have the JHSV which is probably the same dumb design without combat pretensions.

 

[FordGT90Concept]

How many "rounds" to sink a warship, lets say similar in size to one of the current Arleigh Burke class Destroyers, anyone seen them alien warship things in the Battleship movie lol.

To sink? Probably just a few into the magazine or fuel tanks. If the explosion from the magazine/fuel breaches the hull or sheers the ship in half, it will sink fast. Rail guns would be better served to destroy the engines, the main weapons on the ship, and the bridge. It leaves them legless, armless, and headless.

Littoral Combat Ship... relabeled as a Joint High Speed Vessel
LOL just an overpriced ferry boat. They scrapped the LCS design because it was too puny for real combat. Now we have the JHSV which is probably the same dumb design without combat pretensions.

The LCS are effectively ships dedicated to the Marines and special ops. They likely consider the rail gun a good complimentary weapon to assist in those roles (e.g. take out fortified positions that are preventing the guys from moving). By your definition, an aircraft carrier is just a glorified ferry boat too.

 

[Hilux SSRG]

Littoral Combat Ship... relabeled as a Joint High Speed Vessel
LOL just an overpriced ferry boat. They scrapped the LCS design because it was too puny for real combat. Now we have the JHSV which is probably the same dumb design without combat pretensions.

Are the LCS/JHSV ships the trimaran design talked about a few years back?

 

[Relayer]

How many "rounds" to sink a warship, lets say similar in size to one of the current Arleigh Burke class Destroyers, anyone seen them alien warship things in the Battleship movie lol.

Wrong weapon for that job.

 

[Tatty_Two]

Wrong weapon for that job.

Ahhh but thats the point, an anti ship missile "can" be countered, at a guess, a projectile travelling at Mach 7 possibly couldn't be (most anti ship missiles travel at between Mach 0.7 and mach 1.4 only), I was kind of hoping there would be something new in that 10KG weight that may, in conjunction with maybe 3 or 4 others have enough expolosive power to sink..... probably naive on my part. I spent 4 years selling militay equipment in the Middle East in the Mid to late 90's, including a modified "Sea Skua" anti ship missile, all, and I mean all the buyers were concerned about was sink rates, historically statistics show that generally when you account for leakeage, probabliity, defence etc it can take quite a lot of anti ship missiles to actually sink a ship.

 

[Relayer]

Ahhh but thats the point, an anti ship missile "can" be countered, at a guess, a projectile travelling at Mach 7 possibly couldn't be (most anti ship missiles travel at between Mach 0.7 and mach 1.4 only), I was kind of hoping there would be something new in that 10KG weight that may, in conjunction with maybe 3 or 4 others have enough expolosive power to sink..... probably naive on my part. I spent 4 years selling militay equipment in the Middle East in the Mid to late 90's, including a modified "Sea Skua" anti ship missile, all, and I mean all the buyers were concerned about was sink rates, historically statistics show that generally when you account for leakeage, probabliity, defence etc it can take quite a lot of anti ship missiles to actually sink a ship.

I find that very interesting. I imagine it's not an easy field to get in to. I mean it's not like they run ads in the classifieds.

 

[rooivalk]

Ahhh but thats the point, an anti ship missile "can" be countered, at a guess, a projectile travelling at Mach 7 possibly couldn't be (most anti ship missiles travel at between Mach 0.7 and mach 1.4 only), I was kind of hoping there would be something new in that 10KG weight that may, in conjunction with maybe 3 or 4 others have enough expolosive power to sink..... probably naive on my part. I spent 4 years selling militay equipment in the Middle East in the Mid to late 90's, including a modified "Sea Skua" anti ship missile, all, and I mean all the buyers were concerned about was sink rates, historically statistics show that generally when you account for leakeage, probabliity, defence etc it can take quite a lot of anti ship missiles to actually sink a ship.

wow that's some extraordinary experience, like lord of war xD

 

[Tatty_Two]

Lol, legitimate sales..... was in the British Army working in a training and procurement team at the time..... sorry to deflate the image that I earlier portrayed!