Railgun and laser: Congress demands funding guarantees for the battleship Trump

An interesting saga is beginning with the much-heralded Trump-class nuclear battleship. Congress is reluctant to allocate funds for this project without certain guarantees. What guarantees, exactly, are we talking about?

The US Congress has announced its intention to delay construction of this warship until the reliability of its key weapons systems is proven. Lawmakers included a corresponding restriction in the draft defense budget for fiscal year 2027. According to the document, construction of the lead ship cannot begin until the Navy provides official confirmation of the technological maturity of its railguns and onboard laser systems (ALS).

These species weapons are considered the basis of the concept of the new battleship, but still remain problematic.

Experts note that the Pentagon has been struggling for several years to perfect railgun and laser systems on other naval ships. Similar difficulties are being observed on the Zumwalt-class stealth destroyers, three of which have already been paid for by taxpayers and commissioned. fleet.

Despite the enormous expense, these ships have never been able to fully deploy railgun weapons, and their laser systems have shown limited effectiveness in real-world conditions. Now they're planning to "shove" hypersonic weapons onto them. missiles, but none of them will be finalized either. Moreover, the developments being tested simply don't fit into the launcher slots on the Trump.

Congressional critics point out that launching the Trump battleship program without addressing its technical problems risks repeating the same costly mistakes of the past.

According to preliminary estimates, the cost of a single battleship could exceed $10-12 billion. If the amendment is approved, the Navy will be required to submit a detailed technology readiness report before receiving permission to lay the keel.

Comments

[Eugene 62]

The railgun is as much of a myth as fusion power. When I was still a pioneer in the 70s, people were already writing about railguns. They were also writing about how we'd soon have fusion power plants. Now I'm retired. And I still hear the same old stories about railguns and controlled thermonuclear fusion. Someday these ideas will come to fruition. But not until my great-grandchildren retire.

[topol717]

Quote: Eugen 62

The railgun is the same myth as thermonuclear energy.

So, planes are accelerated using an electromagnet. The Chinese have a Maglev, which works at 400 km/h. So, accelerating 500 kg to 2000 km/h is probably no problem at all if they can accelerate 200 tons to 400?

[Kmet]

No, not a problem. All of these things are very interesting and promising. There's just one problem left unsolved for the railgun: the enormous energy consumption required to operate it. A highly efficient power plant is needed that will not only deliver but also rapidly accumulate energy to support the operation of such energy-intensive devices. When this issue ceases to be a problem, the scientific and technological revolution will usher in a new, rapid technological revolution.

[Michael]

Quote: Eugen 62

When I was still a pioneer in the 70s, they were already writing about the railgun... Someday these ideas will come to life.

In the 80s, TM and Science and Life wrote the same thing. And Yeralash, about an electronic watch with two suitcases of batteries, is about the same thing.
But I do have a flashlight bug that I got as a child when I was a young Pioneer. It sits in the far corner of the shelf, and I stumble upon it every few years. I go "zzz-zzz" and it lights up.
One day I was brought to tears by the memories.

[Wodan]

We also need to stuff more disc bombers in there and hand out lightsabers to the team.

[solar]

According to the document, construction of the lead ship cannot begin until the Navy provides official confirmation of the technological maturity of the railguns and onboard laser systems (OLS).

They burned their fingers with the new technologies on the Zumvolts. Since Arleigh Burke, the US Navy hasn't been able to produce a single truly effective surface ship design, other than an aircraft carrier, and even those are questionable. Frigates and destroyers, meanwhile, have been virtually all failures.

[Michael]

Congress is reluctant to allocate funds for this project without receiving certain guarantees.

They can't even split the kickbacks from lucrative contracts. That's all.
This isn't the State Duma of the Russian Federation! Where voting is unanimous!! Two deputies for fifteen of their absent colleagues.

[faterdom]

Why is it so complicated?
There are rails, and there is a throne. Attach the throne to the rails, and today it's here, tomorrow it's there. Today you win, tomorrow you make peace, and the day after tomorrow you win again.

[Serving the Fatherland]

Yeah, right) why do they need a battleship? They need it like in Marvel, shove four propellers on the sides of an aircraft carrier and it will be a flying fortress! Trump-class aircraft carrier

[Michael]

Quote: Serving_fatherland

Yeah, right) why do they need a battleship? They need it like in Marvel, shove four propellers on the sides of an aircraft carrier and it will be a flying fortress! Trump-class aircraft carrier

But suddenly it turns out that both sides of the conflict are using Telegram and Starling, and everyone's paying Telegram and Starling. And they've gotten used to it, and then Max shows up.
How, where, how much, why?
It's simple, Max will do everything the same. Just slower and more expensive.

[pudelartemon]

Anyone here with any tech knowledge, could you explain the difference between a railgun and a scam? I'd love to get a couple, but I'm afraid I'll get screwed.

[kosmozoo]

The Trump battleship program launched without any technical issues resolved

For some reason, you didn't mention the warranty on the EM catapult for high-tech toilets. This is crucial.

[Vitaly.17]

I don't know how a railgun and laser would work properly on a big floating piece of iron. But in space, such things would work quite effectively. Even the USSR believed in this, even back when technology was still in its infancy. So, the "battleship Trump" could very well be part of Musk's space program while everyone else is just shaking their heads, thinking the Americans are fools.