Hypersonic bullets from General Atomics and BAE Systems successfully hit the targets in tests that took place between 2012 and XNUMX March last, at the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The new weapon systems have been in development since XNUMX, on behalf of the Office of Naval Research. The bullets reached the targets faster than Mach 6.
“An average bullet travels about 1.700 miles per hour. Mach 1 is approximately 767 miles per hour. A hypersonic bullet travels at Mach 6, three times faster than a standard bullet, hitting targets at 100 nautical miles in less than six minutes ”.
Bullets from General Atomics implement navigation and control sensors. “Thanks to a multi-Tesla magnetic field of the rail system, the cannon fires the projectiles at accelerations greater than 30 thousand times that of gravity. The result is a devastating kinetic weapon. The sea tests will take place within the summer ".
According to the provisions of the new doctrine of the Philosophy of Increased Lethality, the United States Navy plans to create a new fleet consisting of floating power plants, equipped with long-range electromagnetic guns. The concept of "kill everything" arises from "greater lethality and the associated ability to destroy everything".
Public opinion has always imagined that the US Navy's maximum projection was the vision of a XNUMX-ton aircraft carrier. This is correct for the present. In fifteen years, however, the United States Navy could deploy dozens of electromagnetic guns off enemy coasts. This technology is currently in development. It was designed to enter service with the class Zumwalt, currently the only one capable of producing enough electricity (78 megawatts of power) for the rail guns.
By 2020, the Pentagon should be able to develop accumulators capable of storing sufficient energy and allowing the installation of railguns also on board the other warships of the Navy. The US Navy's goal is to have a first batch of forty small units equipped with electromagnetic guns. Specifically, we are talking about floating electrical energy accumulators, a sort of surface electromagnetic artillery. The tested tungsten bullets cost around a thousand dollars. Traveling at three kilometers per second, they can pierce the armor of any existing and future tank.
The Pentagon plans to develop electromagnetic guns capable of firing six rounds per minute with an average barrel duration estimated at three thousand shots at full power.
(photo: General Atomics)
