coilguns/gauss guns

[Wiltshire]

http://www.penguinslab.com/coilgun.htm - may some of you have seen this, maybe not but, coilguns are a pretty cool "space aged" - well, not really, weapon. A coil gun is an electronic gun, soundless and can shoot any ferrous projectile (metal containing iron) These weapons work by creating a strong electronic feild. It seems all coilguns are pretty much hobby projects by electronics freaks. If you made one big enough (with a capacitor the size of a fork lift, or maybe in a parallel circuit?) It could possibly be the idea soundless weapon (no suppressors needed) and If you decided to buy a fibre glass repair kit, you could make the body of the gun and build a true fully functional "star wars" weapon!

[festergrump]

http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?t=2556
http://roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?t=695
http://72.14.253.104/custom?q=cache:T9Nz9314urQJ:www.roguesci.org/theforum/improvised-weapons/695-railgun-2.html+%22coil+gun%22,%22rail+gun%22&hl=en&gl=us&ct=clnk&cd=3
http://www.roguesci.org/theforum/showthread.php?t=2877

My search button works...

[Jacks Complete]

I'd go for a non-ferrous projectile like an aluminium or copper slug for a coilgun, you will get higher conductivity, and hence a higher EMF pushing the slug out. Using iron tends to get you no place fast, since that coil is a magnet, and iron flies towards the magnet. You can still do it, but you need microsecond switching and coil timings, which if you aren't big into PICs that are immune to EMP can be tricky.

[festergrump]

Here's a related article about recent testing for large scale ship-mounted weaponry:
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01172007/251373

64 megajoules, 200-250 nautical mile range, 3.2 kilogram warheadless projectile = similar to hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph... a mere six minutes from launch. (Tomahawk missiles can only cover that distance in 8 minutes).

[nbk2000]

www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/smart/bgm-109.htm says 550MPH for the Tomahawk, so it'd take half an hour for it to cover the same distance the rail gun projectile can do in a few minutes. :)

[sdjsdj]

similar to hitting a target with a Ford Taurus at 380 mph...
USE
Y'know, that's the best description of the principle of why kinetic bombardment weaponry works I've ever seen.
PARAGRAPH
Excellent article, but personally I don't see why the US pursues railgun research; after all, a B-52 does a better job of obliterating everything in an area than just about anything else, and stealth aircraft can deliver complete and utter devastation with pinpoint accuracy - something no railgun is likely to do for a while, considering the G-forces acting on their projectile would shred any guidance system.
BREAKS
Also, unless nuclear-powered MBTs are developed, the range of a railgun is unlikely ever to get beyond 200 miles inland; beyond this, even at the massive velocities in question, wind etc. would destroy accuracy, limiting its utility against many countries.
NBK
True, it may make an uninterceptable ship-to-ship weapon, and its psychological value would be immense, but I still have my doubts . . .

[Hirudinea]

considering the G-forces acting on [a railgun] projectile would shred any guidance system.


I don't know about that, during Project HARP, a project to launch a projectile into low earth orbit (eventually), using a big ass gun, many of the projectiles did contain hardened electronics that withstood the accelleration of their launch, which was somwhere around 3.5 km/s, which could also work in a railgun projectile, and of course this was some 40 years ago.

[festergrump]

...but personally I don't see why the US pursues railgun research...

It's certainly for price-cutting effect.

Every rocket or missile we don't have to launch saves a million dollars or so, and that can add up pretty quickly.

No, we tax-payers won't get to see any of that money back. It'll be split up between the self-appointed elites while they pat each other on the bum and issue each other another raise and a "Well done, old friend"... :mad:

But even if the guidance system onboard a projectile couldn't withstand the G-forces involved, what with the calculations of windage and trajectory possible today, I think they could track and pinpoint a target two miles away and drive that puppy pretty much wherever they wanted to, even down to a mansized target without any onboard projectile guidance systems... so long as it was stationary or didn't have an erratic path of travel prone to change in six minutes or less.

Select target from satelite screen, highlite, press TRACK and wait for variables to register and calculate... confirm target on screen with crosshair reticle and *left-click*. Next target? :) Each click costs about as much as one of Dubya's breakfast biscuits...