US abandoned the development of rail gun

As it became known, the United States Senate Committee on the Army, after long debates, still approved its version of the military defense budget for 2012 for $ 664,5 billion, which is $ 6,4 billion less than the administration of President Barack Obama demanded. There would be nothing particularly surprising in reducing the expenditures on the needs of the defense industry if, at the same time, the ban on further development and introduction of the most promising types of weapons was not introduced: FEL and the rail gun - railgun.

The free electron laser (FEL) and the electromagnetic rail gun today are experimental, state-of-the-art weapons. Representatives of the US Navy had pinned high hopes on new weapons. First of all, this is due to the fact that with the help of FEL military sailors would be able to burn enemy aircraft and missiles with a laser beam regardless of their designs and technical capabilities, and with the help of an electromagnetic rail gun they had the opportunity to hit with shells sent at hypersonic speed ground targets at a distance of several thousand kilometers. Navy specialists have argued that both types weaponsmay be ready for combat use earlier than 2020 of the year, but taking into account the ban adopted by the Committee of the Senate, further implementation of the project becomes impossible.

But the question arises, what is the reason for the closure of work on the development of truly advanced weapons systems, which today no other country has in the world, including Russia? In this situation, there are two possible answers: the first - all further work is transferred to a special secrecy mode, when no one should know about the progress of the work and the second option is the most real, this is how the Senate transfers the further funding of development to the U.S. Navy. Starting in 2005, the US Navy spent $ 211 million on the development of an electromagnetic rail gun. In the period from the 90s of the last century, the US Congress annually allocates $ 60 million for FEL. These amounts are not catastrophic for fleet and in the absence of funding will be able to continue work on their own.

Electromagnetic rail gun and FEL - weapons systems that, when put into operation, will be able to make significant changes in the balance of forces on the battlefield - Americans will get a tangible advantage in comparison with the armies of other countries. It is necessary to recognize that the American engineers in the development of systems to date have achieved significant success and confirmation of this December tests, which the fleet conducted in conjunction with the manufacturer Atomics. During the tests, the capabilities of an electromagnetic rail gun were demonstrated, so a projectile weighing more than 10 kilogram was sent at a speed of 1600 m / s, and energy in 33 MJ was achieved. In a combat ship-mounted artillery installation, this figure will be equal to 64 MJ, and the speed of departure of the combat charge - 6000 m / s! The rate of fire ship-mounted installations should be at least 12 shots per minute. The incredible power of the projectile with its relatively low weight will allow warships to take a huge ammunition by the number of shots. The necessary energy for the gun will provide the ship's generator.

Like the rail gun, the FEL system also passed preliminary tests, and their results were stunning - the current prototype gave out radiation with a power of 1400 kW, which could be produced by solid-state IR lasers 14 times more than before. This energy is enough to "burn" any enemy air objects at a great height.

It is obvious that successful testing of systems will not be ignored by the US military and there is an assumption that work on their implementation will continue, but already under the stamp - Top Secret!

Comments

[rumpeljschtizhe]

really ..... it's like with a firearm on the indians

[frame5]

Most likely they will secret, of course. However, we also have developments in lasers and railguns, and you can catch up. If they get such a weapon, they will get an advantage equal to the atomic bomb in 45.

[figwam]

This is the weapon of the future and very effective, to refuse it to such a country as Pindosia ... well, I don’t believe it.

[Kotovsky]

These are fantastic weapons of an incredibly distant future. Now nothing shines for him, since there are PHYSICAL barriers that are UNMISSIBLE for the current level of technology development.
For lasers, this is a heat release problem. 80% of the laser energy is converted into heat and spent on heating the laser itself and the surrounding area. The tests showed ... In short, to explain everything - you get the whole article. It’s better to immediately write an article.
And with a railgun shell even worse. At a speed of 2 km / s, when it hits any obstacle, it turns into steam.
In short, Americans dumped a bunch of dough into the wind.

[voin-xnumx]

Dear calm down, do not hysteria. If such developments exist, then no one will freeze them, believe me. On the other hand, we, too, are not suckers; we are working in the same direction. The scales of technology and development are always in a neutral position.

[Kotovsky]

In the USSR, the development of an electromagnetic gun (railgun) was covered back in the 1970s, when a projectile at a speed of about half of the 1st space one scattered into dust when it hit a steel sheet three millimeters thick. Serious research in the field of physics of this phenomenon has shown the complete hopelessness of kinetic weapons with shock nucleus at super speeds. By the way, cores from depleted uranium, when they hit the armor at the usual speeds of modern shells, also turn into yellow powder, although they manage to break through a rather thick layer of homogeneous armor.
Since the Americans did not know about the Soviet experiments, they threw hundreds of millions into the wind. As a result, they came to the same disappointing conclusion and covered up the project. There is nothing to secret there. The laws of physics on Earth so far no one can cancel.

[Basilevs]

Not so long ago we showed a show where our prototype was shown. Well .. prototype, because he shot a small bullet. But this bullet pierced the sickly row of aluminum tiles. And the powder, which is characteristic, did not turn right away.

[Honory]

In this case, we can only wait. If the Americans really have achieved success, we will soon find out about this using the example of some Korea, Iran, Libya, etc.