Cañón electromagnético (railgun) para la US Navy

[G_K_Zhukov]

Esta noticia la ha chivado Greg Porter (en el grupo de Yahoo de su juego EABA):

Boys and their Toys

Un juguetito nuevo para la US Navy

[Tichy]

Ya había oído acerca de este cañón, aunque no creía que estuviera tan avanzado. Por fortuna, parece que todavía queda mucho tiempo para que sea utilizado, necesita un porrillo de energía para cada tiro y además me pareció oír que tenía problemas con los materiales con los que estaban hechos el cañón, por lo visto existen pocos materiales que puedan aguantar varios disparos a velocidades tan altas y al final acababan por deformarse.

[Tutor Diabolico]

!Gensanta¡
32 megajulios y tres millones de amperios para enchufarlo. !Y quieres subirlo al doble¡ Pequeño disparate este.

Bueno, quien sabe. A lo mejor les da por instalar sabediosmil millones de paneles solares por toda américa para ir cargando las baterias del cacharro y con un poco de suerte se acaba la crisis energética.

[Apoptosis]

Pedazo arma, a su lado el cañón Gauss de Half Life es una patraña

[Tichy]

Pedazo arma, a su lado el cañón Gauss de Half Life es una patraña

Si echas un vistazo por el google encontrarás que también existen investigaciones con el cañón gauss. Es parecido al railgun, ambas son armas electromagnéticas y las dos gastan un potosí en energía aunque parece que es menos potente, no alcanza tanta velocidad.

[Tichy]

Un vídeo del "juguetito" nuevo:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y54aLcC3G74

[desertpunk]

Tiene potencia la cosa esta la verdad, ¿pero ya les sale rentable con las fuentes de energía actual? Pero si con todas las municiones actuales (enriquecidas con uranio empobrecido para que,encima de traspasar el blindaje de sus enemigos, contamine...) de que disponen ya pueden hacer estallar el planeta , espero que no lo piensen usar como arma¬¬ Bonito estaría el Busch de los huevos con cañones nuevos capaces de traspasar casi cualquier cosa¬¬
Emprendería la conquista mundial xD Suerte que no todos los americanos son así...

http://i227.photobucket.com/albums/dd31 ... ding10.jpg

[Colmillo Lunar]

Pués hombre... la verdad... parece un poco ciencia ficcion pero de hacer algo asi, quizas saldria mas rentable poner en orvita una cantidad ingente de satelites paneles solares por todo el planeta y que las armas fueran terminales. Al mas puro estilo Martillo del alba del GoW XDXDXD

En serio una arma asi seria la oxtia, un rayo de energia, que viaja a la velocidad de la luz (o casi) y que podria alcanzar siendo un sniper con una muyyyy buena mirilla, distancias hoy en dia imposibles. Podria un sniper tranquilamente matar a un sujeto a mas de 20 km tranquilamente, una pasada vamos pero como siempre para todo esto hace falta un mogollon de energia, que por suerte, aun no sale rentable.

[Alfonso]

En todo caso parece un arma antiaerea mas que otra cosa. A mas de 8 veces la velocidad del sonido !!!

[Kellhound]

De hace más de un mes:

Blitzer EM railgun takes step forward for air defence role
Tim Fish
A prototype electromagnetic (EM) railgun, built by General Atomics (GA) for air-defence purposes on land and sea, has been successfully trialled firing multiple rounds for the first time.
Thomas Hurn, the Blitzer programme director at GA's Electromagnetic Systems division (EMS) told Jane's : "Our current plans call for further testing [to validate the barrel system] through the end of the year, with testing of aerodynamic rounds to occur the second and third quarters of 2010."
Formerly named the IRAD (Internal Research and Development) launcher, but now known as Blitzer, tests with the railgun were completed at the US Army's Dugway Proving Grounds on 22 September with USD2.8 million of funding provided from the Office of Naval Research (ONR).
GA EMS is pursuing this internal research effort following its involvement in the ONR's Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) programme.
The INP was established in August 2005 to research and develop an EM railgun that the US Navy could use for long-range shore bombardment. In April 2009 GA was awarded a USD22 million contract for the development of an advanced container launcher (ACL) to support the INP.
The 34-month effort will see the testing of an ACL prototype capable of imparting a muzzle energy of 32 MJ, which could be translated into a range of 110 n miles (204 km) - much further than current gun systems.
High-power EM propulsion is used instead of conventional explosive chemical propellants to launch the projectiles and the aim is to eventually field a system that can fire guided projectiles at speeds up to M7.5 with a range of more than 200 n miles.
However, Hurn said aspects of this technology could also be applied to the air-defence role for both the army and the navy: "For a modest muzzle velocity you can reach the horizon (10 km) in seven seconds, at which point the round will be travelling at the muzzle velocity of a conventional gun," he said.
Blitzer is a single-shot system at present, but could be modified to fire multiple projectiles using current autoloader technology. The main difference is that the use of EM force to accelerate the projectile instead of gaseous propellants removes the need to close the breech section, where the current is fed into the launcher using cables. The round is injected by means of an actuator and is then fired by closing the switches in the pulse power supply.
During the Blitzer test at Dugway, a 2 MJ muzzle energy was imparted to a 1 kg projectile that achieved a velocity of 2,000 m/s - twice the speed of a conventional air-defence gun projectile. For now, "the objective is to validate the test launcher and make sure the technology is sound and validate the pulse power capability", Hurn said.
"Railguns require GigaWatt levels of power that are injected into the launcher during the shot that takes 5-8 milliseconds. In the system we tested at Dugway, we insert 6 MJ of energy into the launcher in about 5 milliseconds (up to 1.2 GW).
"This greatly exceeds available prime power on the platform, so we charge the capacitor banks to store this energy using platform prime power between shots, significantly reducing demand on the platform, and then discharge the pulsed power system into the launcher to accomplish the shot," said Hurn.
"In addition, the pulsed power systems are modular, so the numbers required are a function of the desired muzzle energy of the systems and a larger launcher would just require additional modules to provide the additional required energy," he added.
GA hopes to develop the Blitzer EM railgun as a cost-effective addition to ship self-defence systems that would fit in with the navy's layered defence. It would complement systems used for defence against low level and asymmetric threats at increased range.
"Think of it as a Phalanx system but with far greater range," Hurn said. "A 5 MJ system can reach about 10 km. The cost-per-round is less and uses a simpler form of guidance. Three or four rounds can be used to accomplish a kill as opposed to the use of a missile, which could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars."
During the testing the Blitzer launcher just fires slugs to test the barrel but GA's partner Boeing has already started to develop an airburst round for the launcher and hopes to start to demonstrate it in late 2010. GA has also developed a trailer to move the equipment with ease.
"We were able to bring up this system for the first time and accomplish our first shot within 12 working days. The system is designed to be transportable and is modular to facilitate testing. The trailer was strengthened to accommodate loads during transport and firing. However, recoil forces in an EM gun are less than a conventional gun because we do not need to accelerate propellant," Hurn said.

GA's Blitzer EM gun, fired at the US Army Dugway Proving Grounds on 22 October. The company hopes to develop the system as an anti-air gun system for both the US Army and Navy. (General Atomics)
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Copyright © IHS (Global) Limited, 2009

[Capi]

Me encanta el invento.
Por la mañana nos marcamos unas pruebas de tiro con un cañón que gasta millones de amperios por disparo, entre otras lindezas, y por la tarde, siguiendo la agenda, volamos a una cumbre internacional, mordemos carrillo, nos aguantamos una sonrisa cargada de hipocresía y nos sentamos a divagar sobre lo irresponsable que es malgastar energía, con la que está cayendo, la crisis, el cambio climático y todo eso.
Lo único que se me ocurre comentar al respecto, es que tal vez, toda esa hipocresía y toda esa doble moral sobre el gasto energético y demás se podría frenar con una breve queja firmada en contra del proyecto que llegase a 6 km/segundo.
Es decir, por correo urgente.

[Bonecrusher]

Más gordas nos las han metido Red Captain, más gordas nos las han metido.