Causing a bit of a stir locally...

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
yes i understand that, just an example of what they could shoot ;-)

I get that. I remember well when the 16" testing was underway in earnest. Not only did I get to hear it "at home" in Colton's Point, I got to hear it whilst sitting in a trailer all day running drop tests of a new rocket launcher and rocket motor upgrade ....only a couple hundred yards from the 16" gun emplacement. Jeez that made the world shake....
 

glhs837

Power with Control
I know some of the early developmental rail gun testing was done at Dahlgren. No idea whether the projectiles were sent down range or just captured. But that said, the range of Dahlgren's range (?) isn't trivial; they can secure the river all the way down to about St. Clements Island if they decide they need to.

Here's a piece.......

http://news.usni.org/2015/04/14/navsea-details-at-sea-2016-railgun-test-on-jhsv-trenton

Items of note, to me anyway.

Range out to 50 miles, gps guided rounds at hypervelocity, wonder what sort of effects you get from 44lbs at whatever mach is left after travelling 50 miles.
 

Gilligan

#*! boat!
PREMO Member
Of the many articles and YouTube videos on the railgun tests conducted at Dahlgren, it appears that all shots were captured type and not range firings.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Of the many articles and YouTube videos on the railgun tests conducted at Dahlgren, it appears that all shots were captured type and not range firings.



that's how they looked to me......... and man, sooooooo freaking cool :) And I say that as a guy that has gotten to see rockets and Hellfires and 20mm guns fired from pretty close range.
 

Ken King

A little rusty but not crusty
PREMO Member
I know some of the early developmental rail gun testing was done at Dahlgren. No idea whether the projectiles were sent down range or just captured. But that said, the range of Dahlgren's range (?) isn't trivial; they can secure the river all the way down to about St. Clements Island if they decide they need to.

Actually they can secure the river all the way down to a line from Pt. Lookout to Smith Point, VA. Though I doubt the have done that often. See - https://www.law.cornell.edu/cfr/text/33/334.230
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Yep, most elegant way to do it. Requires virtually no energy, global reach with not a lot of assets in place. Wouldn't be surprised if we have placed something like this in orbit already. Big red button somewhere under glass "Open only in case Russia or China gets all invadey" Flying crowbars was another name for them. Could be that's one thing that autonomous Air Force minishutle has been doing.
 

GURPS

INGSOC
PREMO Member
who needs Nukes, just put a RAIL Gun on the Moon ... or better yet, something to launch rocks ... a 'la Moon is a Harsh Mistress
 

glhs837

Power with Control
who needs Nukes, just put a RAIL Gun on the Moon ... or better yet, something to launch rocks ... a 'la Moon is a Harsh Mistress

That's what that was, really, a "mass driver" intended to deliver raw materials into orbit is just another name for rail gun. Sounds less threatening is all.
 

Tech

Well-Known Member
Didn't they use concrete bombs in Iraq? 500lbs of concrete dropped from 5 miles up guided by GPS/laser.
 

glhs837

Power with Control
Something like that, the difference is the velocity at impact. Dropped from an aircraft, there's a limit to how fast it hits you. The amount of kinetic energy the weapon has. A baseball lobbed at you vice one thrown by a pro pitcher. A concrete bomb is indeed a kinetic weapon, although ins this case, one meant to cause less damage than conventional bombs. You drop one on a house, your damage, minor some shrapnel effects, is pretty much confined to that house. Even the smallest explosive bomb in inventory (barring oddities like DAGR) is a 250lb bomb, which will take out maybe 3-4 houses.

Te kinetics we are talking about are not so much about that limiting of collateral, but about actually adding energy to the strike without the issues of a larger warhead, or fusing, or all the logisital headaches of explosives. Storage requirements (only so pounds can be stored within so many feet of so many other pounds, must have balst walls or earth sheltered magazines) hazmat concerns, shelf life, demilitarization costs, all that stuff goes away when you go kinetic. Your ammo is hunks of otherwise inert metal.
 

Tech

Well-Known Member
Well, I think I recall some use of inert 80 series bombs, and those are concrete.

Yea, I just remember them talking about non-explosive bombs that could take out a house and leave the ones next door standing.
 
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