Railgun: Smaller Bullets, Bigger Destruction
Monday, October 30th, 2006
Guns are all about destroying. It can be used as a symbol of peace - like sticking roses in the muzzle - but guns were ever only invented with one purpose; to destroy. Over the years, the mainstream of gun technology has always been based on the principle of expanding gases (except for the PHaSR gun). Stick a projectile into a barrel and stuff packed explosives right behind the projectile. Ignite the explosive and make it exploded. Since the only surface that will give way is the projectile, the expanding ball of hot gas will push the projectile out of the barrel with great speed.
Gun barrel technology improved over the years to give the projectiles greater accuracy. But one case still remains: if you want to deliver the projectile further, you need a bigger explosion. Bigger explosions mean bigger projectile packages. Big gun, big bang, big booms.
Big guns with big ammunition can only mean one thing - a heavy package. With the amount of stuff that the modern soldier has to lug about, some form of method need to be mobilized to reduce the burden. An exoskeleton unit is in the works to help reduce the load on an average soldier. But what you really need is a new gun.
Enter the railgun. The railgun works on electromagnetic principles. The railgun accelerates a projectile up to incredible speeds by riding on an electromagnetic field. Kinda like the maglev train, only with more destructive outcomes. With one-fifth of the weight of a standard projectile (like a bullet), the projectile fired from a railgun can deliver the same amount of damage. This means smaller ammo but same whammo. Smaller ammo means you can carry more bang for your buck.
If you mount a huge railgun on a ship, for example, you can deliver serious destruction. With projectile speeds of about 13,000 mph, the ship mounted railgun can deliver Tomahawk missile levels of destruction at a rate of 6-12 rounds a minute. Talk about weapon of mass destruction. Mount a railgun on an M-1 Abrams tank and you can imagine the firepower available on one of the meanest tanks in the world. With a fraction of the cost in terms of ammunition, you can bet that the military are doing some serious research on railguns.
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February 29th, 2008 at 7:11 am
the railguns are the best beleive me and yes the military inteligence alwasy is working whit this we love the fire pówer