It's Not Like We're In Two Resource-Intensive Ground Wars Where Economy of Force is Crucial or Anything
By Spencer Ackerman
01/29/2008
04:57PM
Iraq. Afghanistan. And then, the Navy. From the Pentagon public affairs shop today:
The Office of Naval Research will test fire an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va. on Jan. 31, 2008, between 9 a.m. and 1 p.m. EST. The gun will be fired at over 10 megajoules of energy a power level never before achieved by an EMRG.
I have no idea how much this EMRG costs. But it can be safely estimated to cost in the gajillions. And I have no idea what it does, besides messing some hombre up, and badly. But, as my friends at Danger Room and Abu Muqawama are fond of saying, can the Navy (or Air Force) keep its eye on the freaking ball, please. Maybe, just maybe, the Army needs some of that cash you're spending to, you know, replenish itself during this period of ground-force overstretch. Can't you guys live with, like, eight megajoules of energy? I thought so.
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© 2007 The Washington Independent
Comments:
Posted 01/29/2008 05:48pm with
My understanding is that 10 megajoules is only a milestone, and what they’re really after is double that.
Posted 01/29/2008 10:00pm with
‘splain, please.
Posted 01/30/2008 12:35am with
See this article in Popular Science (http://www.popsci.com/scitech/article/2004-06/electromagn…) from June 2004 for a description. It’s a replacement, in a sense, for ship-borne cruise missiles. Terribly destructive, I assume.
Posted 01/30/2008 08:43am with
Who’s got the contract for this weapon? General Electric? /snark
But seriously…which Bushie donor is trying to finish delivery before the end of the administation? I’m afraid to peek through a .mil domain to find out.
Posted 01/30/2008 09:37am with
To be fair, the electromagnetic railgun has a pretty substantial set of non-military potential uses – get the energy high enough and it can become a much more efficient way of lobbing things into orbit than solid-fuel boosters.
Posted 01/30/2008 10:07am with
At least two British based international corporations are involved in the development of this weapon. One is BAE Systems and the other is QinetiQ. The latter’s Board of Directors includes George Tenet as Non-executive Director.
http://www.qinetiq.com/home/aboutqq/board_of_directors.ht…
http://www.baesystems.com/index.htm
Posted 01/30/2008 10:49am with
But we have to have these kind of naval rifles. the limitations of physics on the size of the explosive propellant rifles put our entire battleship fleet at risk. Only with these kind of 21st weapons can we sail triumphantly across the Pacific to defeat the Imperial Eurasian Navy in a grand decisive battle.
Posted 01/30/2008 11:33am with
Via Slashdot, from a Popular Mechanics article:
Which is why the news that BAE Systems has delivered a functional, 32-megajoule Electro-Magnetic Laboratory Rail Gun (32-MJ LRG) to the U.S. Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., is exciting. Installation of the laboratory launcher is currently under way, and according to BAE, this is the first step toward the Navy’s goal of developing a tactical 64-megajoule ship-mounted weapon. [emphasis added]
Posted 01/30/2008 11:43am with
My mistake. Briefing [pdf] from the Navy’s website reports that 8 megajoules is the state of the art, and they’re aiming for 32 and then 64. (see slide 6).
So, they’re going for eight times what they can do today, not just double. No opinion on whether that’s a good idea, efficient use of resources, etc.