The range safety officer announced "two bells" over the phone circuit - U.S. Navy shorthand for "Firing is imminent" - and a gun tech began drawing the enormous electrical charge needed to fire the Navy's newest, most powerful gun.
"We're charging now," came the report. After two minutes, a two-tone horn sounded: full charge was near.
Housed in a large research building on a test range at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, Va., the railgun hardly looks like the prototype of a weapon that could reshape naval gunnery. It is 10 meters long, low to the ground, its barrel shielded. Heavy cables tether it to banks of capacitors towering nearby.
"Charge has stopped. ... System is enabled," range safety reported. The alarm changed to an escalating whoosh, and the railgun fired.
A 22-pound test projectile blasted down the barrel. Sparks jumped. Smoke wafted into the empty building where the experimental gun is housed while observers, in a nearby building, felt the ground reverberate for a half-second.
Two live-fire demonstrations took place Dec. 10. The first, at just over 33 megajoules, set a new world record for the most powerful shot of an electromagnetic railgun. (An entry has been sent to the Guinness Book of World Records.)
The firings were part of a 100-shot series required to prove that the railgun, rated at 32 megajoules, works. Over the course of the five-year project, the weapon has cost $211 million to design and test.
The gun's operation is relatively simple. When the firing circuit is closed, a jolt of current magnetizes twin rails running the length of the barrel. The force instantly propels the round, which rests on a magnetic plate and sliding armature, through the barrel at staggering speed.
The armature and the sabot, which guide the round through the chamber, peel off like petals of a flower after exiting the barrel, according to diagrams of the firing mechanism. This releases the 2-foot-long, low-drag projectile, which resembles a metallic icicle, for its Mach 7.5 flight.
The projectile packs enough kinetic punch, engineers say, that an explosive warhead is not needed. And since the railgun does not use an explosive charge, the test gun doesn't have a closed breech, or back end.
At this power, an operational railgun can fire up to 100 nautical miles, far enough that engineers are developing guidance systems for projectiles. Their goal is to be able to fire from six to 12 rounds a minute and land them within 5 meters of a target. (The boxy test round fired in the Dec. 10 demonstration flew 5,500 feet and was recovered, still hot, for examination.)
If successful, that could rejuvenate naval gunnery. Project managers believe the railgun also could be deployed for strike and ballistic missile defense.
Initially, the goal had been to develop a railgun capable of 200-mile shots. That goal remains, but a push is on to start getting it fleet-ready sooner, officials said.
"We are focused on taking it to long-range strike," said Elizabeth D'Andrea, the project's strategic director, but added, "There's some interest in moving the technology into the fleet sooner."
"We're charging now," came the report. After two minutes, a two-tone horn sounded: full charge was near.
Housed in a large research building on a test range at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren, Va., the railgun hardly looks like the prototype of a weapon that could reshape naval gunnery. It is 10 meters long, low to the ground, its barrel shielded. Heavy cables tether it to banks of capacitors towering nearby.
"Charge has stopped. ... System is enabled," range safety reported. The alarm changed to an escalating whoosh, and the railgun fired.
A 22-pound test projectile blasted down the barrel. Sparks jumped. Smoke wafted into the empty building where the experimental gun is housed while observers, in a nearby building, felt the ground reverberate for a half-second.
Two live-fire demonstrations took place Dec. 10. The first, at just over 33 megajoules, set a new world record for the most powerful shot of an electromagnetic railgun. (An entry has been sent to the Guinness Book of World Records.)
The firings were part of a 100-shot series required to prove that the railgun, rated at 32 megajoules, works. Over the course of the five-year project, the weapon has cost $211 million to design and test.
The gun's operation is relatively simple. When the firing circuit is closed, a jolt of current magnetizes twin rails running the length of the barrel. The force instantly propels the round, which rests on a magnetic plate and sliding armature, through the barrel at staggering speed.
The armature and the sabot, which guide the round through the chamber, peel off like petals of a flower after exiting the barrel, according to diagrams of the firing mechanism. This releases the 2-foot-long, low-drag projectile, which resembles a metallic icicle, for its Mach 7.5 flight.
The projectile packs enough kinetic punch, engineers say, that an explosive warhead is not needed. And since the railgun does not use an explosive charge, the test gun doesn't have a closed breech, or back end.
At this power, an operational railgun can fire up to 100 nautical miles, far enough that engineers are developing guidance systems for projectiles. Their goal is to be able to fire from six to 12 rounds a minute and land them within 5 meters of a target. (The boxy test round fired in the Dec. 10 demonstration flew 5,500 feet and was recovered, still hot, for examination.)
If successful, that could rejuvenate naval gunnery. Project managers believe the railgun also could be deployed for strike and ballistic missile defense.
Initially, the goal had been to develop a railgun capable of 200-mile shots. That goal remains, but a push is on to start getting it fleet-ready sooner, officials said.
"We are focused on taking it to long-range strike," said Elizabeth D'Andrea, the project's strategic director, but added, "There's some interest in moving the technology into the fleet sooner."
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