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I can't decide which I'm more excited about, railguns or lasers. Do the Navy's railgun prototypes take a special type of ammunition or are they just launching precision machined blanks of common metal?
I'd imagine so!
This seems misleading: > Both costs pennies on the dollar compared with missiles and smart bombs A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon, so its spear of effect is quite a bit smaller than a "missile and smart bomb." It might be able to displace a Mark 45 gun or the Phalanx CIWS point defence system, but neither of which are missiles or smart bombs, and both fire relatively inexpensive (but heavy) ammunition…
I'd imagine the long term plan is to roll both lasers and rail guns. The combo seems ideal. Cheat laser shots to swat missiles and drones out of the surroundings whilst bombarding everything further away with the railgun. I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots.
>Phalanx CIWS which is also computer controlled, it is damn terrible at targeting pretty much anything
Laser having +- zero flight time should solve most of that.
It will be interesting to see what counter measures can be deployed against the lasers. Mirrors, heat shields?
This seems misleading: > Both costs pennies on the dollar compared with missiles and smart bombs A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon, so its spear of effect is quite a bit smaller than a "missile and smart bomb." It might be able to displace a Mark 45 gun or the Phalanx CIWS point defence system, but neither of which are missiles or smart bombs, and both fire relatively inexpensive (but heavy) ammunition…
>A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon I'd imagine the long term plan is to roll both lasers and rail guns. The combo seems ideal. Cheat laser shots to swat missiles and drones out of the surroundings whilst bombarding everything further away with the railgun. I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots. >Phalanx CIWS which is also computer controlled, it is…
The projectiles would only have the force of gravity/terminal velocity behind them unless they have been able to create an explosive railgun projectile (that doesn't explode on the launchpad due to the extremely high temperatures and other shock railguns apply to their projectiles).
> Laser having +- zero flight time should solve most of that.
I think "most of that" is a little overly optimistic. Target tracking is a complex problem, particularly in a war-like scenario where the target might very well be supersonic and in less than ideal weather conditions.
Anti-ship missiles can and are designed to travel below radar range, so trying to get a good sense of depth against a blue sea and white/blue horizon is far from trivial even for a computer.
The laser still might be the "least bad" defensive weapon against anti-ship missiles, but the whole thing is far from full-proof. We haven't really seen a full on naval conflict between two modern navies, so we kind of forget just how amazing most of the weapons are these days.
I can't decide which I'm more excited about, railguns or lasers. Do the Navy's railgun prototypes take a special type of ammunition or are they just launching precision machined blanks of common metal?
According to the internet the slugs are mostly aluminum and/or copper. I'm sure it's more complex than that, but that's the ELI5 answer I guess.
That sounds insanely expensive but cruise missiles are half a million dollars each, not sure what an LRAP costs or what 'traditional' artillery shells used on ships cost.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
>A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon I'd imagine the long term plan is to roll both lasers and rail guns. The combo seems ideal. Cheat laser shots to swat missiles and drones out of the surroundings whilst bombarding everything further away with the railgun. I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots. >Phalanx CIWS which is also computer controlled, it is…
> I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots. The projectiles would only have the force of gravity/terminal velocity behind them unless they have been able to create an explosive railgun projectile (that doesn't explode on the launchpad due to the extremely high temperatures and other shock railguns apply to their projectiles). > Laser having +- zero flight time should…
Horizontal velocity will, presumably, be reduced by drag. But it won't be zero for a long, long ways over the horizon.
It will be interesting to see what counter measures can be deployed against the lasers. Mirrors, heat shields?
This seems misleading: > Both costs pennies on the dollar compared with missiles and smart bombs A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon, so its spear of effect is quite a bit smaller than a "missile and smart bomb." It might be able to displace a Mark 45 gun or the Phalanx CIWS point defence system, but neither of which are missiles or smart bombs, and both fire relatively inexpensive (but heavy) ammunition…
>A laser weapon is not an over-the-horizon weapon I'd imagine the long term plan is to roll both lasers and rail guns. The combo seems ideal. Cheat laser shots to swat missiles and drones out of the surroundings whilst bombarding everything further away with the railgun. I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots. >Phalanx CIWS which is also computer controlled, it is…
Of course I am just a sci-fi enthusiast in this regard, so take this comment for what it's worth...
(I am not at all excited about the weaponization of space, but unfortunately feel it is inevitable given "politicians")
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> I bet with a bit of clever tech you can pull off some insane over-the-horizon railgun shots. The projectiles would only have the force of gravity/terminal velocity behind them unless they have been able to create an explosive railgun projectile (that doesn't explode on the launchpad due to the extremely high temperatures and other shock railguns apply to their projectiles). > Laser having +- zero flight time should…
> The projectiles would only have the force of gravity/terminal velocity Horizontal velocity will, presumably, be reduced by drag. But it won't be zero for a long, long ways over the horizon.
You point the projectile too low and it just hits the ocean (due to the curvature of the earth), you point it higher than the horizon then the projectile will continue to travel upwards indefinitely until it runs out of energy and then will fall back to earth with the force of gravity.
The only way what you're saying works is on a flat planet or against a target within your horizon.