By B.C. Kessner
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) yesterday said that senior Navy leaders would be on hand Dec. 10 at Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren, Va., for what is planned as a record-setting test of an experimental Electromagnetic Railgun.
“The importance of the 32-megajoule demonstration is the feasibility of the system at an energy level that has military significance,” Roger Ellis, ONR’s Electromagnetic Railgun program manager, said.
During Friday’s demonstration, the Navy will fire a 32-megajoule muzzle energy shot, and attempt to set a new world record for the Railgun program–a Navy effort to evolve surface ship weapons.
According to Elizabeth D’Andrea, the program’s strategic director, a 32-megajoule shot could reach ranges of more than 115 miles with Mach 5 velocity, which is far greater than any conventional guns currently in use by the Navy. A megajoule is a measurement of energy associated with a mass traveling at a certain velocity; for example, a one-ton object moving at 100 miles per hour equals one megajoule of energy, ONR said.
Capability-wise, a future operational Electromagnetic Railgun would hit targets at ranges almost 20 times farther than conventional surface ship combat systems, or more than 230 miles. It is designed to extend the range of Marine Corps combat capabilities and distributed operations. Additionally, unlike current munitions that have high-energy explosive warhead and traditional gun propellants, the new Railgun munitions rely solely on kinetic energy. Removing explosives and chemicals will improve safety for Sailors and Marines and reduce the munitions logistics chain, ONR said.
The Navy’s Electromagnetic Railgun is a government/industry design with BAE Systems fabrication, Ellis said. ONR began its Innovative Naval Prototype program in 2005. In addition to BAE, General Atomics and Northrop Grumman [NOC] bid on the program, he added. In 2007, ONR downselected to two companies, BAE and General Atomics, which will showcase their advanced composite prototype Railgun launcher systems at NSWC Dahlgren on Friday.
The Railgun is being developed for use on a wide range of ships, whether the vessel has an integrated power system, such as DDG-1000, or a non-integrated power system, such as a DDG-51, ONR officials said.
The system would be capable of a rate of fire of six to 12 rounds per minute and guided to targets with a high degree of precision. Accuracy of a GPS-guided round would be within five meters of the target, and the improved accuracy should result in minimizing collateral damage, ONR officials added.
“ONR’s job is to prove feasibility of the technology,” Ellis told Defense Daily yesterday. “We hope to have it in the field in the 2020-2025 time frame.”