Railguns!

Drunken Idaho · Post by **Drunken Idaho** » 02 Mar 2009 12:28

I'm not much of a weapons enthusiast, but I thought some of you would appreciate this:

http://www.gizmag.com/us-office-of-nava ... gun/11035/

It seems developers have finally created a feasible railgun system! This thing can apparently send artillery at mach 5 speeds, which is pretty insane.

How long until we can get a handheld version?

Post by **Freakzilla** » 02 Mar 2009 12:31

Rail Gun

In 1999, Dr. Khalid Ibrahim Sa’id — the head of Iraq’s pre-1991 nuclear weapons design and development program - initiated a project under the IAEC to develop a rail gun, an experimental device that, if further developed, could, in theory, have applications including nuclear weapons research and antiaircraft weapons. ISG determined that the rail gun project was aimed at providing Saddam with an anti-aircraft weapon to shoot down an enemy aircraft in the no-fly zone, which Saddam reportedly believed would render the no-fly zone ineffective and foster a change in political climate that would hasten the lifting of sanctions. Nevertheless, ISG acknowledged that the program preserved skills that could support a renewed nuclear weapons design effort. Another scientist in the program also acknowledged that one of Sa'id's goals for the project was to train a new generation of IAEC scientists in applied physics, which would certainly keep intellectual capital for any future nuclear program. ISG found only tenuous links, however, between the rail gun program and efforts at nuclear reconstitution.

http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/world ... ke-isg.htm

Seraphan · Post by **Seraphan** » 02 Mar 2009 12:55

Fuck!
Well, you learn something new everyday.

DuneFishUK · Post by **DuneFishUK** » 02 Mar 2009 15:15

Rail guns are brilliant

I wrote my A-Level physics essay on them.

Coil guns are cool as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjMTffRav-I

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 02 Mar 2009 16:08

DuneFishUK wrote:Rail guns are brilliant I wrote my A-Level physics essay on them.

Coil guns are cool as well...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GjMTffRav-I

Rail guns kick coil guns asses!

I love rail guns.

SwordMaster · Post by **SwordMaster** » 03 Mar 2009 20:39

I think of the game Quake!

Somebody help me understand the advantage of a rail gun over a normal gun. As far as I knew we cannot dodge bullets yet, but as just a fun thing to say hey that looks cool, I mean I get it. But whats the advatage point?

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 04 Mar 2009 15:50

I love rail guns! Firing at 3,500 meters per second or more

I saw the video they posted of the rail gun firing some time early last year. It's really amazing. I always felt the rail gun was an underutilized science fiction weapon, at least in the big name franchises. It typically only gets exposure in video games and such. It's such a great concept for futuristic ballistic weapons, I'm really surprised it's not used more.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 04 Mar 2009 15:59

I thougt I heard talk of the concept being used as a space delivery system. A rail gun launching pad, if you will.

Anyone else ever hear about that?

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 04 Mar 2009 16:04

GamePlayer wrote:I love rail guns! Firing at 3,500 meters per second or more
I saw the video the posted of the rail gun firing some time early last year. It's really amazing. I always felt the rail gun was an underutilized science fiction weapon, at least in the big name franchises. It typically only gets exposure in video games and such. It's such a great concept for futuristic ballistic weapons, I'm really surprised it's not used more.

I agree, way underused. Not that anyone's going to read my stuff anytime soon, but rail guns are the primary launch system for missiles(so they can fly "dark" and get close to the other ship before firing rockets, less chance of getting shot down, plus higher speeds etc), kinetic weapons (cannonballs in space... not the most usefull...), drones, and fighterships (all launched from the big interstellar ships) in my fictional universe.

Freakzilla wrote:I thougt I heard talk of the concept being used as a space delivery system. A rail gun launching pad, if you will.

Anyone else ever hear about that?

I've heard of coilguns being used for this (in fiction), I guess railguns could work too. There's a proper term for this but I can't think of it right now.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 04 Mar 2009 16:58

Freakzilla wrote:Anyone else ever hear about that?

Absolutely. Canadian Engineer Gerald Bull was almost as famous for research into superguns, space guns and other large scale ballistics as he was for his infamous personality and assassination. But Gerald Bull is just a more recent example of the concept which has been floating around since Jules Verne. I think A Thing of Eternity is right that it's coil guns that have been suggested as a new style of space gun for launching craft into orbit, but they are very similar concepts. It's a very innovative way of getting ships and materials out of the atmosphere. Perhaps a precursor to the space elevator.

A Thing of Eternity · Post by **A Thing of Eternity** » 04 Mar 2009 17:03

Mass Driver. That's what it's called, knew it would come to me. Certainly might be a great way to get commerical satilites and such into orbit.

trang · Post by **trang** » 04 Mar 2009 21:08

I worked on AV8-B harriers in the marine corps from 1991 to 1996. McDonald douglas was working on a belly mounted rail gun system for the Harrier to increase its close airsupport capabilities.

the gun for tha harrier is a detatchable and runs length of underbelly so had a lot of space to work with. Dont believe railgun ever got developed but was aimed at tank killing, and other troop support operations.

Trang

Drunken Idaho · Post by **Drunken Idaho** » 05 Mar 2009 13:22

Freakzilla wrote:I thougt I heard talk of the concept being used as a space delivery system. A rail gun launching pad, if you will.

Anyone else ever hear about that?

Hmmm, the energy consumption would be epic, I imagine... But there would be no carbon emissions... I'd like to see this happen. A sling-shot into space!

SwordMaster · Post by **SwordMaster** » 05 Mar 2009 13:24

Drunken Idaho wrote:
Freakzilla wrote:I thougt I heard talk of the concept being used as a space delivery system. A rail gun launching pad, if you will.

Anyone else ever hear about that?
Hmmm, the energy consumption would be epic, I imagine... But there would be no carbon emissions... I'd like to see this happen. A sling-shot into space!

Yah to overcome the g force vs. weight issues you are talking about one huge amount of sling in that shot.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 05 Mar 2009 13:42

You don't have to use it to get you all the way to space, it could be used like a catapult to achieve horizontal velocity, then fire the rockets and climb into orbit.

Post by **Omphalos** » 05 Mar 2009 13:55

Freakzilla wrote:I thougt I heard talk of the concept being used as a space delivery system. A rail gun launching pad, if you will.

Anyone else ever hear about that?

Heinlein used that concept in The Moon is a Harsh Mistress. It was intended to deliver products to the home planet, but it wound up becomining one of the Loonies main offensive weapons. Of course, they were launching from the Moon to Earth, but the concept is the same no matter what king of gravity well you are in.

Post by **Freakzilla** » 05 Mar 2009 14:16

Maybe that's where I heard about the idea. What did Jules Verne use, wasn't it like a giant cannon?

TheDukester · Post by **TheDukester** » 05 Mar 2009 14:16

That was my favorite concept from the book. RH put together a very vivid description of the size and sheer power of the launcher, too.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 05 Mar 2009 14:21

Freakzilla wrote:Maybe that's where I heard about the idea. What did Jules Verne use, wasn't it like a giant cannon?

Yeah it was just a big gun. However, while the fiction of it was lacking, the concept of shooting things into space was a sound theory.

SandChigger · Post by **SandChigger** » 06 Mar 2009 01:10

Heavy, dude.

GamePlayer · Post by **GamePlayer** » 06 Mar 2009 11:53

"There's that word again; heavy. Is there something wrong with Earth's gravitational field in the future?"