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posted by on Thursday April 27 2017, @12:20AM   Printer-friendly
from the is-that-a-railgun-or-are-you-just-happy-to-see-me? dept.

The Motley Fool's Rich Smith writes:

For more than three years now, I've been tracking the U.S. Navy's progress toward building a working electromagnetic railgun prototype — a Mach 6 cannon reputedly capable of striking targets 110 miles away with pinpoint accuracy.

Each railgun projectile would cost about $25,000 to produce — and if you're keeping track, then yes, success on the railgun project would yield a weapon boasting nearly twice the 67-mile range of Boeing's (NYSE:BA) Harpoon II missile but costing just 1/48th the Boeing missile's $1.2 million cost.

https://www.fool.com/investing/2017/04/22/navys-new-mach-6-em-railgun-almost-ready-for-prime.aspx

Electromagnetic Railgun - First shot at Dahlgren's new Terminal Range https://youtu.be/Pi-BDIu_umo


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  • (Score: 0, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @03:50AM (8 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @03:50AM (#500506)

    You've contributed an actual fact to correct "know it all" Dumbass and his extensive math who was totally ignorant that even "non engined" ballistic projectiles are guided these days. (Movable steering fins plus guidance such as GPS.)

    You get less informed by reading comments on Soylent more often than not. :-(

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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:27AM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:27AM (#500543)

    I want so bad to mod this up for the :

    even "non engined" ballistic projectiles are guided these days. (Movable steering fins plus guidance such as GPS.)

    but why do we have to denigrate someone who posted in good faith but may not have understood?

    You've contributed an actual fact to correct "know it all" Dumbass and his extensive math who was totally ignorant...

    I appreciate the addition of additional information, or more correct information, but its also saddening to see a verbal flamebait launched against a fellow Soylentil that was posting that which he was aware of.

    Places me in one helluva quandary... is this informative or flamebait? I guess the two cancel out. So I will reply instead.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:54AM (1 child)

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:54AM (#500546)

      but why do we have to denigrate someone who posted in good faith but may not have understood?

      You must be new around here, ain't ya? We have to denigrate because it is Runaway1956-2666, he posts on everything, especially things he knows nothing about, constantly. It is not in good faith, it is a bad case of logorhea. And he claims to have been a sailor, but inquiries with the DOD report that no one named "Runaway1956" ever served in the US Military, ever.

      Oh, wait, you were talking about someone else? Oh, well, carry on then.

      • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @08:39AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @08:39AM (#500578)

        And he claims to have been a sailor, but inquiries with the DOD report that no one named "Runaway1956" ever served in the US Military, ever.

        I'm pretty sure his real name is not "Runaway1956" or even just "Runaway". My real name isn't "Anonymous Coward" either (and nor is yours, I guess).

        And I'm pretty sure the military would require you to use your real name.

    • (Score: 2, Informative) by qzm on Thursday April 27 2017, @07:19AM

      by qzm (3260) on Thursday April 27 2017, @07:19AM (#500555)

      Just to add a little more 'fact' to these boys need to fantasies about this actual weapon.

      What they are dreaming of is the 'hyper velocity projectile' project, which the navy has been chasing for some time.
      So fact it has achieved exactly one thing, the firing of a solid dummy load, with no active capability.

      The HPV has been a dream for a few generations now, but still there is no actual evidence that it is actually possible.
      After all, they only have to be able to receive GPS and radio guidance through the plasma sheath generated at mach 6+, in a unit a
      small fraction of the size of existing guided munitions, and control its hypersonic flight.
      And of course make that hold up in the 100,000+G acceleration of these guns..

      should be ready just as soon as they find that bad of unobtanium they left in the back of the lab.

      Damn those facts.

  • (Score: 1) by qzm on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:59AM (3 children)

    by qzm (3260) on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:59AM (#500551)

    Good to see 'My understanding is that the shell is guided and can explode at target distance to create high velocity debris field' is a fact!

    Of course there is no evidence *I* can find of either of these 'facts', care to present any?

    Thought not.. time to come back from some scifi future and stick to actual facts.. even if real math confuses you.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @10:21AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday April 27 2017, @10:21AM (#500588)

      How would you present evidence of 'my understanding is'? A brain scan, maybe?

      Note that the fact that something is Zipf's understanding doesn't necessary mean that the something is correct; Zipf correctly stated it as his understanding. The assumption that someone's understanding has to be in any way related to reality may generally be reasonable, but it still remains an assumption, unless you can support that assumption with facts.

      In other words, while you are right to criticize Zipf for an understanding that is not backed up with facts, you are not right with your accusation of Zipf claiming wrong facts unless you have any evidence that what Zipf writes is not Zipf's (flawed) understanding, as that is the only thing he claims as fact.

    • (Score: 3, Informative) by SunTzuWarmaster on Thursday April 27 2017, @12:32PM (1 child)

      by SunTzuWarmaster (3971) on Thursday April 27 2017, @12:32PM (#500631)

      Um... There was the article in Popular Mechanics from last year (http://www.popularmechanics.com/military/weapons/a21174/navy-electromagnetic-railgun/)... Also reports from Fox news describing navigation sensors within the projectile (http://bgr.com/2016/03/17/futuristic-military-railgun-bullets-could-travel-at-mach-6/).

      Of course - you could always just consult the spec sheet (and advertising page), from the manufacturer:
      http://www.baesystems.com/en-us/product/hyper-velocity-projectile-hvp [baesystems.com]
      The HVP’s low drag aerodynamic design enables high-velocity, maneuverability, and decreased time-to-target. These attributes, coupled with accurate guidance electronics, provide low-cost mission effectiveness against current threats and the ability to adapt to air and surface threats of the future.

      It is hardly a secret.

      • (Score: 2) by Scruffy Beard 2 on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:48PM

        by Scruffy Beard 2 (6030) on Thursday April 27 2017, @06:48PM (#500839)

        For the baesystems link, I get:
        404 Not Found
                                                                          404 Not Found

                  * Code: NoSuchKey
                  * Message: The specified key does not exist.
                  * Key: en-us/product/hyper-velocity-projectile-hvp
                  * RequestId: 90007EDB0A1AF376
                  * HostId:
                      vX9frjxmyD/l0vcvbY0YNDT5ZAjGYtETmEfUPNJE4eoT8hnwaow6ue4JtpyrwHKjDJl
                      2E/AfFm8=

        Not sure if it is because I was trying to access from outside the US.