Chapter 832 Electromagnetic Railgun
The entire "Star Wars Program" is divided into two parts: the "ICBM Defense Program" and the "Anti-Satellite Program". The "ICBM Defense Program" consists of space-based reconnaissance satellites and space-based anti-missile satellites as the first line of defense, using conventional warheads or directional weapons to attack strategic missiles during the launch and atmospheric penetration stages; using land-based or ship-based laser weapons to destroy separated warheads that pass through the atmosphere; using space-based directional weapons, electromagnetic kinetic weapons or land-based or ship-based laser weapons to attack nuclear warheads flying before re-entering the atmosphere; using anti-missile missiles, kinetic weapons, particle beams and other weapons to destroy the "slippery fish" after re-entering the atmosphere.
Such a dazzling and luxurious defense line, even the United States in 2100 may not be able to build it, but the Americans officially started the development of the "Star Wars Program" in 1985, and ambitiously planned to start deployment in 1994, at least to have combat effectiveness before the advent of the 21st century.
As a result, after exhausting the Soviet Union, the United States discontinued the "Star Wars Project", which made the onlookers speculate that the entire "Star Wars Project" was simply a scam to lure the Soviets into throwing money into the fire pit, and the United States did not take it seriously at all.
However, this is not the case. The "Star Wars Project" is by no means an empty shell. It has many real things. After all, the Soviets are not stupid. How can the United States convince the other party if they don't come up with something real?
In 1991, the Bush administration made a comprehensive and detailed assessment of the "Star Wars Project". Many US military experts believe that many parts of the plan are too advanced (electromagnetic kinetic weapons, lasers, microwave weapons, high-energy particle beams), and even difficult to achieve. With the Soviet Union no longer in existence, it is really stupid to spend a lot of money on these random things.
Subsequently, the Bush administration introduced the "Smart Pebble" program, the goal of which was to develop and equip missiles that could intercept direct attacks on important U.S. military targets, rather than tightly wrapping up the entire U.S. territory and its allies. The "Smart Pebble" program looked like a new program, but in fact it was a scaled-down version of the "Star Wars" program.
In addition, emerging industries such as space technology, information technology, and microelectronics technology, which were once included in the "Star Wars" program and served the national defense strategy, were also separated from it and achieved rapid development.
After listening to Yannick's anti-missile system, Dr. Braun was full of admiration. "Your Highness is really far-sighted. However, it may take some time to build such a defense system."
Yannick smiled in his heart. What he was talking about was only the most primitive missile defense system. If he told you about the American "Star Wars" program, you would be scared to death. "Of course, I didn't plan to get everything done in one go. This defense system will take at least ten years."
After Dr. Braun left, Yannick continued to review documents, one of which was a document about Krupp's successful development of the 105mm L/56 tank gun. After taking a look, Yannick picked up the phone and called Krupp. "Little Alfred, the 105mm tank gun was successfully developed? Well done. Have you heard of the electromagnetic railgun?"
Electromagnetic railguns are not new. As early as 1920, the Frenchman Fortune Villepleu published the article "Electric Artillery" and obtained three patents in the same year. Later, Yugoslavia, the United States and other countries also conducted related research work. By the eve of the outbreak of World War II, there were as many as 45 patents for various electric guns.
The physical principle of the electromagnetic railgun is simple, but the mathematics is complicated. The railgun uses electromagnetism to propel a conductive armature, load the shell inside, and fire it out. Two parallel rails are connected to a power source. These two rails can be thought of as gun barrels. When current passes through the rails, it generates a magnetic field. The interaction of these perpendicular currents in the magnetic field generates the Lorentz force, which pushes the projectile out through the barrel. The beauty of the Lorentz force is that it does not decay, which means that the longer the barrel, the higher the initial velocity.
The electromagnetic railgun developed by the US Navy in later generations has an initial velocity twice that of ordinary naval artillery, and can reach a speed of Mach 6. If it were not for the greatly increased air resistance at a speed of Mach 6, there would be even more amazing performances, and the range is super long, flying 200 nautical miles in 6 minutes. This advantage is unmatched by other chemical energy weapons. There is a limit to the speed that chemical energy weapons can reach. If you want to achieve a higher speed, you can only use multi-stage propulsion, such as a rocket with a multi-stage body.
The original time and space of World War II Germany also developed an electromagnetic railgun. At the end of World War II, the German army continued to look for and actively develop various new weapons, trying to use new weapons to save the defeat, and the electromagnetic railgun was one of them. Dr. Achim Hansler, who was in charge of the experimental project, achieved remarkable results. In 1944, he used a 2-meter-long rail to accelerate a 10-gram cylindrical aluminum projectile to 0.8 km/s, which is almost three times the speed of sound. In 1945, he connected two rail guns in series, making the initial velocity of the projectile reach 21 km/s.
From a technological perspective, this is a remarkable achievement, but in terms of military practicality, it is quite pitiful. The Germans took great pains to accelerate the metal equivalent to a bullet warhead to the initial velocity of the bullet. In other words, the lethality of this complex rail gun is only equal to that of an ordinary rifle.
After the end of World War II, Hansler's electromagnetic railgun data fell into the hands of the US military. In 1946, the US Army Equipment Department commissioned the Armored Research Foundation to evaluate Hansler's technology. The conclusion was that the energy supply problem could not be solved, and the rail material problem was not easy to solve.
Every time the railgun is fired, it consumes a huge amount of electricity. Just overcoming the static friction in the barrel of the micro railgun requires a considerable amount of energy and generates a considerable amount of heat. It is no exaggeration to say that every time it is fired, the railgun feels torn apart, and the huge heat generated will even melt the rails. This is an inevitable side effect. Therefore, the railgun needs to rest for a long time after firing a few times, waiting for the rails to dissipate heat. In order for it to have sufficient power, it must be equipped with a power supply that can provide 25 megawatts of power. Even if a nuclear-powered aircraft carrier has this capability, after providing power to the shipboard system and propulsion system, the remaining power is not enough to ensure the normal use of the railgun, which is why the railgun has not been put into actual combat.
Little Alfred asked respectfully. "I've heard a little bit about this. Your Highness wants us to build an electromagnetic cannon?"
"This thing can't be built just by saying it. Let's start with a project and study it slowly." If we can come up with something in 20 years, it would be considered fast.