The Scary Reasons Why US is Testing Massive $500 Million Railguns Firing at Mach 7 

What i love about the Zumwalt class is it reminds me of the "ironclad" Merrimack and Monitor vessels of the Civil War.

The video itself is well researched and produced… but it didn’t truly answer the question as to “THE SCARY REASONS THE US IS SPENDING $500 MILLION ON RAIL GUNS” What’s the reasons?

The last word I have heard on rail guns is that the internal rail / barrel won't take the abuse of launching projectiles at these high speeds without needing to be rebuilt frequently, currently making this infeasible as a future weapon.

Missiles are not the most economical choice for ship defense or attack within the range of guns. This is because with a missile, everything needed to push the projectile is included in the missile, and is destroyed with each shot. The Sea Sparrow costs $165,400 per shot and the Rolling Airframe Missile costs $900,000 per shot! Not only that, reloading is also tremendously cumbersome and time consuming. Guns of whatever type have the advantage that the propulsive equipment remains on the ship, which can significantly lower costs and reduce reload time.

This is the second. or maybe 3rd video talking about the navy's research into rail-guns that has been recommended to me recently. This project has been cancelled, which was announced in July 2021.

People used to think railguns are quiet because they don't use explosive projectiles, but the railgun's sonic boom is extremely loud, unavoidably.

Impressive, but some articles I've read on the USN railgun research state that the gun has to recharge, which limits how many shots it can fire and it is ridiculously heavy to put on a ship 🚢! The weaponry is interesting, but it needs to be shrunk down in size and faster recharging time. Thanks, RU-vid 😊😮

"Men, we have to load the missiles. Grab every broom handle you can find!"

While on paper the Rail Gun is ingenious, in Real life they are ridiculously expensive. So expensive infact, the Navy has stopped the procurement for the Zumwalt class.

More scary is that after all these years it is still in testing stage 😂

As of 2017...I see this reporting is cutting edge.

I have always thought that this type of weapon has huge potential, but I wonder if the range, projectile velocity and thus lethality could be increased quite a bit by simply having a pneumatic pre-driver of the projectile, so that the projectile is already at a certain velocity PRIOR to entering the rail gum breech, this way the initial high current load on the surfaces that are having current flow will not be so easily damaged and give the final performance value much higher....

É por isso que os US, são determinados e perspicazes em tudo o que fazem. Parabéns!

It must take an enormous amount of Energy.

Time traveler: “ so have you guys given up throwing rocks at each other?” Us: eh, not exactly

Just imagine what a better world we could live in if just a fraction of the time and money spent developing these weapons of mass destruction were actually used to the benefit of mankind??!

I'm pretty sure they canceled R & D on these a couple of years ago. "Yesterday's news. Tomorrow." On the other hand, once combat in space becomes a reality, I could see these becoming a viable weapon system.

I don't understand why the U.S. is not using nuclear reactors to power these Zumvalt class ships. Molten Salt Reactors would be perfect. A U.S. company, ThorCon is a shipbuilder that has designed ships to carry Molten Salt Thorium Reactos for mobile power supply. Last year, Indonesia bought one.

Oh so good to see where our minds and money AR focused at in the United States

The hilarious part of the science behind the railgun, is that high speed mag lev trains use the same scientific principle. LOVE IT!

I thought they had stopped testing the rail gun, is it back in testing or never stopped?

The pursuit of railgun tech needs to keep going, even if its effective use is still years away.

targates: In a distant galaxy, there lived a race of star wizard men who had the ability to control dragons. These dragons were not like the fire-breathing creatures of myth and legend. They were intelligent and powerful beings who could be used for good or evil. The star wizard men used their dragons to protect their people from harm. They also used them to explore the galaxy and learn about new cultures. However, there were some star wizard men who used their dragons for evil. They would send them to attack other planets and steal their resources. One day, a group of star wizard men decided to use their dragons to open a Stargate. A Stargate was a portal that could transport people and objects from one galaxy to another. The star wizard men wanted to use the Stargate to travel to a new galaxy and conquer it. They gathered their dragons and opened the Stargate. The dragons flew through the portal and disappeared. The star wizard men waited for their dragons to return, but they never did. The star wizard men were furious. They had lost their most powerful weapons. They vowed to find a way to get their dragons back, and they would stop at nothing to do so. The star wizard men searched for their dragons for many years. They traveled to every corner of the galaxy, but they could not find them. Finally, they gave up and returned home. The star wizard men were disappointed, but they were not defeated. They knew that their dragons were out there somewhere, and they would never give up hope of finding them. One day, a young star wizard man was meditating in the forest when he had a vision. In the vision, he saw his dragons. They were being held captive by a group of evil sorcerers. The young star wizard man knew that he had to rescue his dragons. He gathered a group of friends and set out on a journey to find the evil sorcerers.

I was most impressed by the Mark II Missile Mobility Movement System made from mop handles.

The large guns on our battleships only had a 130 shot life span so they had liners that could be changed out also one of the pics you showed firing a round was mounted on a ship so it’s being done already

The speed at which ordinance is reloaded across so few launchers really makes swarm attacks a MASSIVE vulnerability. Any dedicated attacker who merely has speed and a torpedo on each vessel can over-power and sink any of these destroyers by themselves -- at a FRACTION the cost (let alone, the time to build one). I realize that's not how they usually travel (often in battlegroups) But not always; sometimes it [is] just 1 or 2 vessels. And they are far from invincible.

7:35 Real cute, the plastic covers popping off!

i'm curious if they will put a spin on the projectile. with a design similar to that new reactor design.. the stellarator (thou i think wendelstein 7-x may be an upgraded version?) type of twisting magnetic fields, to help stabilize the primary flow of "electric/magnetic" influence. which would also give the projectile a spin...right?

I've heard that the pressure wave when passing by a small 1/2 inch hole can suck 30 Lbs of fiberglass insulation through that little hole when the projectile passes by. I wonder how the sound does compare? is the rail gun really quieter, or louder?

Those zumwalt ships are amazing. They really should make more

The question that has to be decided, is whether the science and the cost, makes it both affordable and suitable as a futuristic game changing weapon. So far what I can deduce is that it's a "White Elephant" in real terms, as it has massive setbacks that make it completely unsuitable for modern warfare. Despite big contractors involved such as British Aerospace Engineering, it perhaps still very much in the infantile stage of its potential. The other question that then needs to be asked is how easy would it be for the enemy to neutralize and make this weapon inoperative. The costing is monumental and if it can be made inactive, just makes it an oversized paperweight.

WAAAAY OUT OF DATE: this program cancelled a while ago.

can someone explain the fireball coming out the end of the barrel ? I thought maybe the friction of the projectial in air was causing the air to combust but in that case the projectial would be in a fireball in it's entire flight ??????

Hook up the solar panels.😂

I saw some of the first test videos in 85 the originals were warehouses... so scale was the issue but they have incredible economic benifit munitions wise

Was apart of the IW crew that helped build the structure that holds a test rail gun. Watched it fire and was amazed that no gunpowder was involved

How about making some workable USA made rail trains

The only theoretical application on land for the rail gun that I can think of is when putting them on trains for supplementary static defense vs tanks since it's essentially a big AP round. You'd connect the grid to the rails, so you'd need some engis on it. Its target is too specific to use offensively. It could be good for coastline defense but that's a big ask on infrastructure and air superiority when you have all of the other options.

An ICBM much faster than that is still impossible to shoot down. Also, if multiple ICBMs are launched at once, it is even more impossible to shoot them down.

I think rail guns won't have that much of a future. I'm thinking the new 50KW laser system they are playing with will have a lot of advantages over the rail gun. They are overcoming a lot of the logistics problems with lasers. They can do a repition rate less than a second.

Very impressive how we are capable of doing all these stuff for our security.

Looking better all the time.

Stretch the center superstructure by about 50-60ft, and install an A1B reactor for commonality with the Ford class. Above the reactor compartment, install a Gigawatt class Free Electron Laser for ABM defense. Increase VLS capacity to approximately 120. Install one Railgun where the rear AGS is located, and VLS Hypersonics where the forward AGS is located. Remove the rear boat launch for 20 horizontal launch tubes for preloaded Mk-48 ADCAP and UUV's.

Just another way for those in Washington to cover up their corruption. This gun will never see the light of day on any ship or aircraft. Especially since the projectiles have no guaranteed accuracy. Besides we have the tomahawks. And those have proven to do the job just fine.

This gun has been done for a while. They stopped working with these due to hypersonic missles.

After 100 years of sci-fi space battles we finally have spaceship rated weapons 7:25

"A weapon unused, is a useless weapon" And here's hoping that doesn't change

Railgun program has been canceled. Too expensive and they couldn’t make it practical. DOD panicked that China and Russia were advanced with hypersonic missiles so many programs had to be cancelled to fund hypersonic missile development.

Has the C-RAM system ever been tested in a real combat situation with missiles heading towards the ship low over sea level and at supersonic speeds? Or versus a Russian one that descends from the sky almost vertically at mach 7? I don't see how that could be done.

btw, 2017 is just the date the military went "official" in their testing, only to access significantly more money.. theyve been researching this for far longer.

Man you really gotta have a complete firing solution when firing that cannon.

Hopefully it’s a joint DARPA + private investments. Very interesting how they are dumping that much energy in less than an eyeblink and what kind of valves are being used during discharge. Likely mechanical relays. Fun stuff.

It’s going to take several nuclear reactors to provide enough power to fire the magnetic gun. As stated in the introduction, the rifles have a “very limited” lifespan. I’m guessing 4 shots per barrel. A land based approach would be much more suitable.

You know damn well those new destroyers have some hidden rail guns on em

Yep. This project has been canceled. Navy tried this rail gun system on ship but the electric power shortage was the main reason, and the budget was rising up too high and the material of bullet (Tungsten) is not easy to provide constantly.

To help with barrel damage, I personally think making it Multiple Barrel Rotary couldn't hurt, and would certainly look cool af!😅👍 Btw I think Railguns could also be based on Nuclear powered Carriers and perhaps even nuclear powered Submarines...

I designed rail guns back in the 1990s, I’m 45 now…. That was a different life…. This technology testbed is old… The old record was 88mi per sec for a tuned ceramic projectile. The systems are fed by air to reduce currents that want to rip the guns apart. They are powered by compulsators… aka compensated pulsed alternators spun by turbine. I designed for Navy and clandestine operations. Peace… Most interesting is the salt reactors and water turbine technologies that basically make for infinite power coupling to the oceans…

i wonder if (aircraft carrier) catapult system and this rail gun system combined would make improvements to their objective . In addition, equip the projectile with multiple stages of explosives - similar to a hollow point bullet.

This would be a super effective coastal defense weapon

Figure out out to put something in orbit extremely inexpensively and you hit the jackpot

Help the homeless and fix our crumbling infrastructure first before wasting hard earned tax payers money on weapons.

Agreed. This program was put up on a back shelf maybe until micronization of hardware catches up with better technology.

It'll be the "fail gun" as soon as that technicians soda @ 3:11 spills over onto his laptop.

I've heard the curvature of the Earth won't let them work. The projectile moves to fast and contains no electronics or fins. It fires in a straight line. You can't plunge a projectile moving that fast if your target is close. Allegedly. So if it's 100 miles out and it's traveling 4500 mph. It has to adjust for 6500 or 5500 feet of Eath curve.

Game changer in Artilery. Put one obviously smaller on a Tank in 5 years. Kinetic energy weapons would give a Tank massive advantage,no need to carry propellant so can engage double the targets.

Imagine if this energy was focused on ending world hunger and curing cancer instead

MY GOD! QUE ARMA ESPETACULAR!! O POVO, EM SI, ESTAMOS TODOS LASCADOS!

Every one of these can be upgraded of its delivery whereas the challenge is not so much executions but after ignition reprurpossing with exchanges. As for the rail gun it could be made less weighted while being added with more efficiency on delivery ignition and empowering every oint of recognition that supplant its existential behaviors. The rail gun should be applied to a reclassified ship re-engineered of all its platforms right down to the projectile shot down the tube that would keep the tube from degrading with even added speed by a binary secondary elemental encased firing that would extend all the ability of the armature extending the whole operation of its outward fielding objective processing on delivery with ignition transfers. For making one that could work on a ship with all greater capabilities and ability several transformations need to take place with design signatures not put in place transfigured and traversely set. Excuse me but the water is the best place for one but one should have another rail gun cross fire defending with units that would multiplicate weaponry of every transitional outcome (again-not designed or realized) Example: hide a plane in a plane, so can a ship or a weapon you only think of as multiple firing but not in placement. The rail gun can be easily formatted but the delivery needs to be revamped.

When you decide to be best at throwing. You make best yeet gun.

This weapon technology has reached 3 countries in the world. In the 2000s, the first USA entered. These 3 countries are USA China Türkiye. Currently, there are 2 weapon systems in the most advanced system in Turkey. one is 'ŞAHİ'. The second system is the TUFAN (9mach). It is a record 3000 meters per second.

And then those caps just go into the ocean 😂

Just what we need, more weapons.

They completed the project. Look at it. That thing is firing through 100 meters of thick reinforced steel plates. This weapon can defend the earth against alien invaders my guys

Guns Up! (pun intended!)

is it only line of sight?

SEA SPARROWS LOOK COOL

“Given fiscal constraints, combat system integration challenges and the prospective technology maturation of other weapon concepts, _the Navy decided to pause research and development of the Electromagnetic Railgun [EMRG] at the end of 2021”_ the statement from the Navy said. Jul 2, 2021 You missed the entire development cycle and reported on a project that ended 2 years ago

They forgot the topic huh ? "Railguns" !... figures

Se van a usar como lanzadera inicial de misiles hipersonicos?

without the slow motion it looks like it hits all the barriers at the same time. 😮

Yep, we can figure out floating aircraft islands but can't seem to figure out electromagnetics and space travel, makes a lot of sense. We've definitely only sat on our hands for 70 years 'thinking' about nuclear propulsion. We can make the toughest of nanomaterials single atoms thick, but can't seem to figure out how to use a magnet to fling things.

Which type of enemy infiatructure/weapons would this kind of weapon system be used to destroy?

Add 2 Railgun systms per ship, one small rapid fire for close in and one long range ( to reach out and touch someone..)

I spent 33 years and four months in active military service and during that period I spent most of my time as a high class muscle man for Big Business, for Wall Street and the bankers. I helped make Mexico and especially Tampico safe for American oil interests in 1914. I helped make Haiti and Cuba a decent place for the National City Bank boys to collect revenues in. I helped in the raping of half a dozen Central American republics for the benefit of Wall Street. I helped purify Nicaragua for the International Banking House of Brown Brothers in 1902-1912. I brought light to the Dominican Republic for the American sugar interests in 1916. I helped make Honduras right for the American fruit companies in 1903. In China in 1927 I helped see to it that Standard Oil went on its way unmolested. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for globalist oligarchs. Looking back on it, I might have given Al Capone a few hints. The best he could do was to operate his racket in three districts. I operated on three continents.”― Smedley D. Butler, War is a Racket , a short book and speeches written in 1935.

E por isso gue amo primeiramente deus segundo esse país USA

Have they ever tried a >7800000W electromagnetic field to deflect the railgun shell? Just curious about physics and the hypothetical reflective capabilities already shown in the video. Asking for a friend.

imagine there are people dying around the world and these people are building railguns

What is the shell casing that pops out upon firing???

1:40 - I know where that is - that's NSWC Dahlgren, Virginia... There's a nice seafood restaurant across the river in Maryland where you can sit out on the deck and enjoy naval guns being tested...

The barrel should be vacuum sealed to minimize friction on projectile as it leaves the chamber

While being unable to successfully fire a hypersonic middle, guess these things will have to do

Does it shoot around the curve ?

They have a pocket size one now to 👍

missiles loaded by hand = not ready to fight

I never understood why they didn't try flight stabilization fins on the railguns ammo. They always appeared to wobble heavily in flight towards the target

Absolutely Bada$$!!!

Has a Sidewinder ever locked onto the heat signature of its asset of origin? I assume they can be remotely disarmed, and I also assume at some point one has locked onto a friendly asset. I also specify Sidewinder because they have been used over so many decades and through so many conflicts. Lots of crazy shit happened in Vietnam particularly and it wouldn't surprise me if there's a story floating around about this happening - Unless it's accounted for in the tech and simply can't happen.

How thick are those steel plates?

Right now as designed they really aren't feasible for shipboard mounting. But that is not an issue, since this is the start of the development process. I imagine that they could reduce power requirement and size simply cutting back on missile speed. How would they hit a sea level target at 100 miles. That is WAY over the horizon, so they would have to be some way of steering the missile. But so far I have the impression they are just solid shaped metal. With up to 100 mile range, they would make good shore defence weapons. Gun size and power requirements are no longer limiting factors.

No one can afford electricity nowadays 😂