Leatherneck Magazine

Photos taken by a high-speed video camera show a test-firing Jan. 28 (left) and impact (above) of the rail gun at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. The Navy is aiming for a weapon that can fire projectiles 200 nautical miles in support of Marines ashore.

USN PHOTO B Y JOHN F. WILLIAMS

a long tube lined with two copper alloy rails. When charged by an enormous pulse of electricity, these rails exert a tremendous force that sends an inert projectile out at incredible speed.

“And the more juice generated, the more muzzle velocity the weapon has and the farther and faster the projectile can go.

“[The] test produced a record 10.86 megajoules, which sent the 7-pound aluminum slug at Mach 7 (more than 5,000 mph) for 80 meters, a roughly 20-millisecond ride.”

Ultimately the Navy is aiming for a

ship’s weapon that can fire GPS-guided projectiles 200 nautical miles in a six-minute arc that extends into outer space and back.

This is amazing when one considers that a 5-inch MK- 45 naval gun fired from a Spruance-class destroyer supporting Marines ashore effectively sends rounds 13 nautical miles downrange.

USN PHOTO B Y JOHN F. WILLIAMS

Admiral Gary Roughhead, Chief of Naval Operations and a former gunnery officer, told reporters, “I never want to see a sailor or Marine in a fair fight. I always want them to have the advantage.”

It is the harbinger of a major breakthrough in fire support. The experts say it is cheaper, smaller and safer because the rail gun uses electricity as the missile propellant. The missile itself does not need a warhead. The kinetic energy of the missile’s Mach 5 descent causes the damage. Thus they are safer, and their small size makes them easier to store in a ship’s magazine.

The Marines would be the primary beneficiaries of the rail gun. Naval gunfire spotters, air/naval gunfire liaison company leathernecks and other fire support personnel in general will be calling in accurate firepower from previously impossible distances. A ship with a rail gun would wreak havoc ashore much sooner from far beyond

radar range and hit within 15 feet of the targeted coordinates.

While it isn’t too good to be true, it will be a long time before one is mounted on the ships of any leatherneck’s expeditionary strike group.

It takes a lot of power to send up to a 32-megajoule pulse through wires. It creates not only tremendous force but also tremendous heat.

That amount of energy “can cause extreme wear on the launcher and the projectile,” said Jones in his report, “which experiences a force of 40,000 G’s as it leaves the gun, as well as the materials needed for a projectile to handle four minutes in outer space at the apex of its arc.”

He also explained problems in shrinking capacitors to fit aboard a ship, powering and cooling the weapon once it’s aboard, controlling electromagnetic and interference and making the entire weapon maneuverable.

The Navy hopes an all-electric ship will be fitted and armed with the rail gun by 2025. Meanwhile, tests continue. “You’re dealing with lightning and thunder when you shoot this thing,” said range test engineer Andrew Wyman.