Gadgets: Rail Guns To Be Used By US Navy

November 21, 2007 · Filed Under Infotech, Gadgets 

The word Rail Gun conjures sci-fi images of a BFG (Big *$#$#%*#$ Gun) that does uber-damage. More like technology from the realms of RF Online or from movies like Arnold’s Eraser.

But that technology is slowly becoming reality.

Just recently BAE Systems has delivered a functional, 32-megajoule Electro-Magnetic Laboratory Rail Gun (32-MJ LRG) to the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, USA.

I thought it would look like a monster, menacing weapon. But it looks more like something from an automobile factory.

But looks can be deceiving. This machine can fire a projectile at speeds reaching Mach 8. Now THAT’S impressive! This baby can be in my recent post about weapons we wished we already had.

More about the rail gun after one more click…

According to a story published at popular mechanics,  these guns will be designed for firing by battleships. The problem is feeding the monster enormous amounts of power that it needs. Dr. Amir Chaboki, the program manager for Electro-Magnetic Rail Guns at BAE Systems said that “The power is available. The challenge is how you use it.” The Navy’s electrically-propelled DDG 100 Destroyer, Chaboki says, is a prime candidate for the final 64-megajoule system. Around 72 megawatts (MW) of the vessel’s power can be used for propulsion. But during combat, the destroyer’s speed could be brought down, freeing up energy for a rail gun.

Here are mock images of a rail-gun mounted on a warship

I’m sure it won’t be long before this sci-fi weapon becomes something that we can see in the near future.

Source: Popular Mechanics

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Comments

2 Responses to “Gadgets: Rail Guns To Be Used By US Navy”

  1. valfogg on November 21st, 2007 11:21 pm

    reminds me of the yamato cannon of space warship yamato, where the ship is a sitting duck for a few minutes after firing the yamato cannon.

  2. Quaker on November 22nd, 2007 12:11 am

    Reminds me of Quake I~II. Two of my favorite weapons there are BFG and the Rail Gun /pif.

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