Navy develops 8-Megajoule railgun, Nukem bows down
By Darren Murph 
posted January 18th 2007 1:11PM
posted January 18th 2007 1:11PM
The mere mention of the word brings back visions of the original first-person-shooters to grace our now-antiquated machines, and now the US Navy is getting real personal with a realized version of the pixelated railgun we all love and adore. Presumably ripped straight from the (admittedly lacking) storyline of Quake, an 8-Megajoule railgun has been officially created, fired, and deemed worthy of flanking our naval ships, which should strike fear in the hearts of anyone wishing us harm. The gun was showcased this week at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia, and utilizes massive quantities of electricity rather than gunpowder to propel "nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds." The weapon is powerful enough to equal the damage inflicted by a Tomahawk cruise missile, and the device's project director compared the impact to hitting a solid object "going 380 miles-per-hour in a Ford Taurus." Moreover, the railgun touts a 200 to 250 nautical-mile range, compared to the 15 nautical-mile range that current five-inch guns sport now. Interestingly, the weapon should "only" cost around $1,000 per shot once loaded onboard, which is chump change compared to the cool million that vanishes each time a cruise missile is deployed, and if everything goes as planned, we'll be seeing a 32-Megajoule prototype in June, with a 64-Megajoule rendition adorning our ships by 2020.[Via Slashdot]
dood,
i think you got your facts crossed
the "starwars" refrence in the recent news was the chinese missle fired at one of their own 4ft by 4ft obsolete satalites... they hit it.
anyways, go on with your day
The popsci article say 5000 feet per second (FPS) 5000 fps = 3409mph. That target 250 miles out would be vaporized at less than four and a half minutes after firing.
INSTANT GRATIFICATION!
that makes me go oh wee. and can i ge one
Yvan Eht Nioj!
There seems to be some confusion as to the purpose of this weapon. It is not designed for ship-to-ship combat. It is a replacement for their Tomahawk cruise missiles, which are designed to strike ground targets.
The Tomahawk has a much greater strike range -- 600 miles -- versus the rail gun's 250 miles. The cruise missiles obviously have much better targeting capabilities. However, I imagine the tradeoff in terms of operating cost (~$1.4mil per missile vs. $1,000 for rail slug) is well worth it. There may be some minimal benefit in terms of reduced chance of internal ship explosion as well. There might also be a stealth aspect due to the rail slug's increased speed and smaller profile.
I'd rather see a Ford Taurus hit a solid object at 380mph
I think it would be a lot cheaper too! If the impact is the same, then the Navy could buy old Ford Taures for $500 each and lob them at targets at 400 mph.
wow as cool as this is, thats way to expensive, 1000$ per shot is stupied. But the US does spend all there moeny on military...its nothing to them. why dont they try spending there money on something else...? like better homing for people and stuff..?
Here, you'll like this.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coilgun
Kalroy
That's right, they found those WMD's! I know it because it "feels" right.
I'm sure the administration only chose not to reveal this discovery of WMD's only because of their well known humility (they didn't want to rub it in the faces of all those liberal scum).
Besides, the war never was about WMD's. All those speeches, statements and news reports never happened, because I choose not to remember them.
I'm no fan of facts, they have a well known liberal bias.
So is this the 5G to cover the ocean? H.S.D.P.A.
HolySh*tDemolitionPreArmegeddon
yeah, there was a "star wars" defense initiative not in recent news, in teh reagan era, it was a laser weapon, i think. [from Spy Tech, Graham Yost i think]
Of course the $1000/per shot wont seem so low once they are installed and the navy starts joy-firing them like crazy. *look at that dolphin, joe!*
They're cheap - if they're being used as a replacement for Tomahawk missiles the Navy can fire over a thousand rounds for the cost of one missile. A thousand rounds? They can "joy-fire" all they want and still blow their target apart.
Ёпта, наканецта замутили херовину каторой в реале мона стрельнуть. Импрресив. Одним словом - ЗАЕБЦА. Rulezzzzz