I wonder how they plan to overcome the problems the last attempts had, frequent fouling of a firing rails. large electrical battery systems would make the power potentially possible. I wonder if this is related to that DIRD about ways to get power in hostile areas with no domestic power sources.?.
If this is successful then I think we’ll see railgun weapons like rifles, though I’m not sure we’ll still be using as many human fighters at that point.
I wonder how they plan to overcome the problems the last attempts had
I’m kind of skeptical too, but if you’re referring to the Navy’s railgun project, I can believe that maybe they don’t need the kind of ranges and velocities there.
kagis
No, sounds comparable; about Mach 6 for each. Maybe a little more for the Navy project. The Navy project was apparently “EMRG”:
https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/R/R44175/87
In EMRG, “magnetic fields created by high electrical currents accelerate a sliding metal conductor, or armature, between two rails to launch projectiles at [speeds of] 4,500 mph to 5,600 mph,”42 or roughly Mach 5.9 to Mach 7.4 at sea level.
https://thedefensepost.com/2024/07/17/us-army-air-defense/
The BAE gun demonstrated firing hypervelocity rounds at around 4,500 miles (7,242 kilometers) per hour, or around six times the speed of sound.
