In the USA, they are preparing a supergun with a firing range of 1800 km
The US Army is implementing bold new proposals. Another unusual project involves the development of a super-gun with a firing range of at least 1000 miles. Such a weapon, along with hypersonic systems, will be responsible for hitting remote targets inaccessible to other weapons of the army.
About the new project reports the publication Defense News. Information about him was obtained from Colonel John Rafferty, the head of the army program to increase the firing range. The officer said that a new type of gun will be able to beat on 1000 nautical miles (more than 1800 km). However, the project will have to use such bold and advanced technologies that the cost of the product may turn out to be unacceptably high.
The first tests of the new system will take place shortly at the Naval Support Facility Dahlgren site. Earlier, a rail gun for the Navy was tested at this training ground.
How exactly it is planned to provide a range of 1000 miles is unknown. The most advanced of the US serial artillery systems, the M109A6 Paladin self-propelled gun, sends a projectile only for 25 miles. The long-range gun of World War II - the German 80-mm Dora - showed a range of 28 miles. At the end of the eighties, Gerald Bull commissioned Iraq to create a System 350 supergun with an estimated range of 265 miles, but this project was not completed.
The current project of the 1000-mile cannon first gained fame last year, when a report on the prospects of artillery systems got into the public domain. This document indicated that the gun should use an active rocket. It should receive acceleration from powder gases, and then turn on its own rocket engine.
Colonel Rafferty points out that the new project is built on well-known solutions, but uses them on a different scale. Thus, a large-caliber active-reactive projectile can receive a large charge of solid fuel, sufficient to significantly increase the flight range.
The gun itself should be a traditional receiver system. Recycling an existing rail gun to meet new requirements is unlikely. It is unlikely that the railgun can provide the required range, and in addition, it needs a huge amount of electricity. In this regard, it is much more profitable to burn gunny caps.
The army indicates that a shell for an 1000 mile gun will cost 400-500 thousand dollars. This also indicates the use of traditional gun architecture. The rail gun does not need complex and expensive ammunition - unlike the long-range receiver system.
New weapon should be a response to recent changes in the military-political situation. Particular attention must now be paid to possible conflicts between developed powers. The 1000 mile gun will give the U.S. Army special capabilities. In particular, it will be possible to attack remote targets without involving the Air Force.
So far, the project is in its early stages. Testing of the components will begin soon, and the entire experimental system will be tested in 2023. After testing, the army will decide whether it needs a new gun with special capabilities and a record price.
- Christopher Brecht / US Army
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