After U.S and Russia, India has successfully tested a Railgun.
Indian defense scientists have successfully developed electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) that
can fire projectiles at Mach 6 (six times the speed of sound) or 4,600 miles per hour.
Such railgun is touted as one of the future technologies of warfare, as they use kinetic
and laser energy instead of controlled explosives for firing missiles.
If the program can produce a functional and cost efficient weapon, it could give the service’s
ships a deadly new way of attacking enemy vessels and forces ashore, as well as defending
against aircraft and fast-flying missiles.
In this video, Defense Updates looks at WHY RAILGUN IS A GAME CHANGING TECH AND HOW CLOSE
INDIA IS TO HAVING AN OPERATIONAL ONE?
A defense scientist involved with the project told Sputnik on condition of anonymity : "A
simple, single pulse driven railgun launcher was developed with a minimum of metal components
in proximity to the bore to maximize the inductance of the launcher and to improve the launch
efficiency.
The launcher has a 12 mm square bore cross-section.
The launcher was fabricated with lengths ranging from 1 to 2 meter”.
According to the state-owned Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO), a 12
mm square bore EMRG has been successfully tested and they are preparing for the 30 mm
variety.
The target is to accelerate a one kilogram projectile to a velocity of more than 2,000
m/s with a capacitor bank of 10 megajoules.
A conventional cannon has some type of shell in a tube.
The shell is then launched by the expansion of exploding gunpowder.
The traditional guns have three major limitations:
1. Gunpowder must be carried with the projectile, making the entire round heavier.
2. Ordnance based on gunpowder is volatile, and so difficult to handle and transport.
3. The muzzle velocity of projectiles propelled by gunpowder is generally limited to about
4,000 feet (about 1,219 meters) per second.
A railgun is an electromagnetic projectile launcher.
A railgun uses a pair of parallel conductors, or rails, along which a sliding armature is
accelerated by the electromagnetic effects of a current that flows down one rail, into
the armature and then back along the other rail.
Railguns use neither explosives nor propellant, but rather rely on electromagnetic forces
to impart a very high kinetic energy to a projectile.
The absence of explosive propellants or warheads to store and handle, as well as the low cost
of projectiles compared to conventional weaponry come as great advantage.
The U.S. Navy plans to integrate a railgun that has a range of over 160 km (100 mi) onto
a ship by 2020.
The US experts wants the rounds to weigh 10 kg (23 lb), around 18 in (460 mm) in diameter
and having speed of around Mach 7.
The US Navy is pursuing development of the launcher system through two industry teams
— General Atomics and BAE Systems and is currently in the forefront of this technology.
Russia tested a Railgun prototype earlier this year when a team of Russian scientists
at Institute of High Temperatures’ branch in Moscow were able to fire a 15 gram plastic
cylinder from a railgun that went through an aluminum plate several centimeters thick.
Shatura Institute's director Alexei Shurpov told Zvezda TV: "The railgun is a big boost
to our study of high energy physics as we are now ready to build apparatuses working
at speeds exceeding 4.5 kilometers a second."
It remains to be seen who will be the first to deploy an operation railgun in combat configuration.