Navy United States is preparing to test water cannon electric future - railgun Bashny.Net

In 2016, the US Navy приступят testing on the water railgun. Рельсотрон, or rail gun - a weapon in which the projectile is not ejected by means of explosives, and using a very powerful current pulse. The projectile is placed between two parallel electrodes - rails. Shell acquires acceleration due to the Lorentz force, which occurs when closing the circuit. With railgun projectile can be accelerated to much higher velocities than with the powder charge. Railgun shot looks like this:



Modern experimental setups US Navy capable of accelerating a projectile weighing 2.3 kilograms to a speed of 2,500 meters per second. At such speeds have no need of explosives - the kinetic energy of the projectile enough to not inflict less damage than the charge of TNT. Now muzzle energy railgun could bring up to 33 MJ. By 2025 it is planned to reach 64 MJ.



At the present stage of development of technology railgun - cumbersome and voracious device. For his work requires a huge battery of capacitors that can give a powerful impetus to the current. To test railgun 2016 will be installed on the destroyer of the new generation & quot; Замволт", which was designed with enough headroom for the railgun power plant. His power is able to give out 78 megawatts, which is comparable to the consumption of a small town. To install the rail guns on other ships is considered the option of using the buffer battery, which will gradually accumulate energy for the shot.




The destroyer "Zamvolt» i>

Despite the high vehicle power supply system requirements, looking at the military railgun including as a way to reduce costs. One shell railgun only costs $ 25 000 - it's a little on the background of conventional ammunition or, especially missiles. In addition, the railgun projectiles for much more compact and safer in storage. Railgun firing range can be up to 180, and in the long term - 400 km. This is much higher than that of conventional artillery and comparable to medium-range missiles, which cost about a million dollars apiece.

Railgun is not the only electrical innovation in the US Navy. Already this summer aboard the USS Ponce, amphibious assault ship of the US Navy, will be installed laser gun designed to engage small and mobile targets - drones or boats. One of the main incentives for the creation of such weapons is also its cheapness - one small anti-aircraft missile is worth several hundred thousand dollars, and the laser needs in order to work only a few tens of kilowatts of electricity. On tests of this laser wrote Habré last year.



Source: habrahabr.ru/post/213591/