2018 - Railgun for US Navy.

[Okeefenokee]

Single-use weaponry. The ultimate dream of the MIC jobs program.

It's not single use, dumbass.

[The Conservative]

That thing is pretty cool. I was hoping it looked more lasery though. The smoke coming from the barrel just looked like standard artillery. How much would it cost to make the rounds red and light them up like a laser? I don't even care if it tactically sound to do that, it would make this big fucker about 10 times cooler. Maybe they could put some kind prism on the barrel. Let the engineers figure this one out.

It's not smoke from the ammo, it's the railgun itself, the electrical power, and the current going through the metal causes a very extremely thin piece of the metal that is the rail to vaporize into a plasma of sorts. The vapor you see if that plasma getting pushed out of the way of the projectile.

Wait, we get to constantly replace the barrels??? This thing is awesome!!!

If this was the case with a civilian railgun yes, in what the Navy is doing it's not, the part that is deteriorating is the armature. not the rails themselves.

On a side note, the armature is significantly cheaper than anything out there right now, and the "projectiles" cost between $25 and 35K depending who you are talking to.

Also, the armature is about double that, so it allows the cost of everything to be less overall. It would be as if you are replacing a spent shell and a significantly cheaper cost overall.

[heydaralon]

I wish it was more scifi laser-like, but that is a certifiably badass weapon. I know some defense weapons are pork, but that doesn't make them any less cool. I don't know how useful this will be in combat, but I hope we get a chance to try this out on some ISIS fuckers.

[Montegriffo]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... lems-17301

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-railguns

http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... c-railgun/

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/navy ... est-shots/

These all say the same.

Funny how people can be so scathing about the readiness of electric cars but fawn over electric artillery even though it is far from perfected....

[The Conservative]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... lems-17301

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-railguns

http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... c-railgun/

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/navy ... est-shots/

These all say the same.

Funny how people can be so scathing about the readiness of electric cars but fawn over electric artillery even though it is far from perfected....

That is why it's slated for 2018, and not anytime sooner... notice the timeline of the articles... they are before 2018, and right now electrical cars are out. The difference is that people are trying to make a broken tech like electrical cars work correctly and do what they promised, while they are at the same time trying to make something for the Navy that's not even out yet, work...

[heydaralon]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... lems-17301

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-railguns

http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... c-railgun/

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/navy ... est-shots/

These all say the same.

Funny how people can be so scathing about the readiness of electric cars but fawn over electric artillery even though it is far from perfected....

I would be fine with electric cars as long as they had a trashcan filled with burning oil soaked rags in the back to burn or a coal stove dragging behind them. We just need to be mindful to keep the CO2 emissions the same to make up for the loss that electric cars will provide. Maybe we can use diesel fuel to power the electric cars charging stations.

[Okeefenokee]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... lems-17301

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-railguns

http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... c-railgun/

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/navy ... est-shots/

These all say the same.

Funny how people can be so scathing about the readiness of electric cars but fawn over electric artillery even though it is far from perfected....

I would be fine with electric cars as long as they had a trashcan filled with burning oil soaked rags in the back to burn or a coal stove dragging behind them. We just need to be mindful to keep the CO2 emissions the same to make up for the loss that electric cars will provide. Maybe we can use diesel fuel to power the electric cars charging stations.

The study was inspired by a request by Plant for the Planet, a global youth initiative that leads the United Nations Environment Programme’s “Billion Tree Campaign.” Two years ago the group approached Crowther asking for baseline estimates of tree numbers at regional and global scales so they could better evaluate the contribution of their efforts and set targets for future tree-planting initiatives.

At the time, the only global estimate was just over 400 billion trees worldwide, or about 61 trees for every person on Earth. That prediction was generated using satellite imagery and estimates of forest area, but did not incorporate any information from the ground.

The new study used a combination of approaches to reveal that there are 3.04 trillion trees — roughly 422 trees per person.
https://news.yale.edu/2015/09/02/seeing ... llion-them

I wonder how many climate studies were based on the old numbers, or even considered them at all.

[heydaralon]

http://nationalinterest.org/blog/the-bu ... lems-17301

https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/arti ... e-railguns

http://www.popularmechanics.com/militar ... c-railgun/

http://breakingdefense.com/2017/05/navy ... est-shots/

These all say the same.

Funny how people can be so scathing about the readiness of electric cars but fawn over electric artillery even though it is far from perfected....

I would be fine with electric cars as long as they had a trashcan filled with burning oil soaked rags in the back to burn or a coal stove dragging behind them. We just need to be mindful to keep the CO2 emissions the same to make up for the loss that electric cars will provide. Maybe we can use diesel fuel to power the electric cars charging stations.

The study was inspired by a request by Plant for the Planet, a global youth initiative that leads the United Nations Environment Programme’s “Billion Tree Campaign.” Two years ago the group approached Crowther asking for baseline estimates of tree numbers at regional and global scales so they could better evaluate the contribution of their efforts and set targets for future tree-planting initiatives.

At the time, the only global estimate was just over 400 billion trees worldwide, or about 61 trees for every person on Earth. That prediction was generated using satellite imagery and estimates of forest area, but did not incorporate any information from the ground.

The new study used a combination of approaches to reveal that there are 3.04 trillion trees — roughly 422 trees per person.
https://news.yale.edu/2015/09/02/seeing ... llion-them

I wonder how many climate studies were based on the old numbers, or even considered them at all.

I wonder how much fossil fuel is needed to deliver AIDS medicine to everyone who is scared of climate change.

[brewster]

Cheaper than a battleship.

we don't have any fucking battleships

Fuck you we don't have any mother fucking commissioned battleships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution.....Stupid ignorant Okees.....

P.S. I used to live in Enid - fuck that place...

\

When I toured the Constitution with the kids and found out it was still commissioned I had an idea for a story where an EMP wipes out our navy and Old Ironsides has to sail out to defend us. From somebody. I didn't get very far.

Not to shock anybody but I'm with Grumps, we already have more naval power than the next dozen or so nations. This is most likely just like the battleships that were the pride and joy of navies from the late 19th century to the end of 1941. Obsolete but sexy as hell to the brass. Even in WWI they were considered too expensive to risk, resulting in only one major battle. Surface ships lives will be measured in days if not hours in the next war between major powers. Anyone remember Repulse and Prince of Wales?

[Okeefenokee]

we don't have any fucking battleships

Fuck you we don't have any mother fucking commissioned battleships https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/USS_Constitution.....Stupid ignorant Okees.....

P.S. I used to live in Enid - fuck that place...

\

When I toured the Constitution with the kids and found out it was still commissioned I had an idea for a story where an EMP wipes out our navy and Old Ironsides has to sail out to defend us. From somebody. I didn't get very far.

Not to shock anybody but I'm with Grumps, we already have more naval power than the next dozen or so nations. This is most likely just like the battleships that were the pride and joy of navies from the late 19th century to the end of 1941. Obsolete but sexy as hell to the brass. Even in WWI they were considered too expensive to risk, resulting in only one major battle. Surface ships lives will be measured in days if not hours in the next war between major powers. Anyone remember Repulse and Prince of Wales?

More military ignorance from people who really just want it all to go to food stamps.

Destroyers are not battleships. There's the door.