Yesterday the rail gun or, as it is also called, the railgun simply did not exist - it was a fantasy of Hollywood fiction directors and video game developers, nothing more. However, the rapid development of the planet, and in particular the armory, led to the appearance of the first copies already now. The pioneer was the American company General Atomics, which not so long ago presented its creation. His name is Blitzer - it was this development that went down in history as the world's first cannon with railgun firing mechanism.
What is a railgun?
The debut testing of the railgun gun recorded a tremendous shot energy of 3 megajoules. Such a force is created by a super-powerful overclocking mechanism when interacting with the GEU system (Guidance Electronics Unit). This node monitors all devices responsible for the stability of wireless communications, as well as navigation sensors. Electronics, as such, is responsible for the entire flight cycle of the projectile, including its direction and accuracy.
The installation is fully autonomous thanks to ultra-fast capacitor batteries. When activating the acceleration mechanism, the projectile receives a powerful impetus, which allows it to gain crazy 5 Machs. Translated into the classic unit of measurement of speed, it is 6125 kilometers per hour. To protect the warhead from mechanical damage during acceleration, a special capsule helps. It is in it that the projectile flies right up to the end of the barrel of the rail gun, where the shell is reset. Throughout the flight, the warhead exchanges information with the launcher using two-way communication, which allows you to control the projectile remotely.
The innovative principle of the tool, allows you to achieve really fantastic results. At the last shooting were recorded unrealistic results. Thus, the railgun projectile flew as much as six and a half kilometers, after which it pierced through 3.2 centimeters of armored steel - incredible, but true!
Purpose of railgun
Railgun is an electromagnetic gun, which does not require any explosives in its operation. The maintenance of firepower is carried out exclusively with the help of kinetic energy, which is quite enough to hit targets. Thus, the maintenance of modern weapons is much faster and more economical than, for example, the good old steam gun.
The US Army on the verge of global rearmament and railgun gun soon promises to completely replace the less effective artillery. The first bell has already sounded in the navy of the country, on the balance of which, entered the most expensive and largest aircraft carrier in the world called "Gerald Ford". On board there is not a single steam gun, all electromagnetic weapons! Thus, there is no need to transport a huge amount of ammunition, and the released displacement can be used for other purposes.
A modern warhead at such a speed of flight is almost imperceptible, which reduces the risk of interception to near zero. But the fact that all sides of such weapons have not been thoroughly studied, significantly delays the process of upgrading state weapons. Besides the fact that shooting with railgun is much cheaper, the projectile penetration rate is also much higher.
Perspectives
At the moment, the capacity of the railgun power system is about 210 kilojoules of energy. According to the head of the Electromagnetic Systems division, Nik Buchi, the coming years should be key in increasing the energy storage system HEPPC (High Energy Pulsed Power Container). As a result, by 2025 the power grid should increase to a record 420 kilojoules.
As for the energy of the shot, the mark at the moment of 10 megajoules is the goal, but it is already clear that it is far from the limit. Each subsequent shooting range will be accompanied by an indispensable increase in the main indicators of the productivity of the rail gun. The technology will be improved until it can be considered the main shock, railgun force of reusable use. It should be equally easy to unfold, both in the open sea, and in any land locations.
Few people know that the author of the innovation railgun is from the USSR. He was a Soviet academician Lev Artsimovich, who in 1950 proposed that the prospective weapon be called a rail gun. For the first time built such a military weapon in 1970 in Canada. In Russia, by the way, similar developments are also underway, for example, for astronautics, an electromagnetic gun will soon be created that can deliver necessary loads to orbit.
