ALERT Navy’s ‘Star Wars’ Weapon Will Be Ready for New Stealth Warships by 2018
ALERT Navy’s ‘Star Wars’ Weapon Will Be Ready for New Stealth Warships by 2018
Electromagnetic launchers were one of the areas researched by Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative, nicknamed ‘Star Wars’ after the science fiction film franchise.
Rail guns use electricity instead of gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at six or seven times the speed of sound — creating enough kinetic energy to destroy targets.
ALERT Navy’s ‘Star Wars’ Weapon Will Be Ready for New Stealth Warships by 2018
It’s technology that holds the possibility of providing an effective weapon at pennies on the dollars compared to smart bombs and missiles.
Admiral Pete Fanta, the Navy’s director of surface warfare, has floated the idea of foregoing the current plan to put a prototype on another vessel this year and instead put it directly on future USS Lyndon B. Johnson – though no final decision has been made.
‘The Zumwalt-class is one of a number of options being explored for the electromagnetic railgun,’ said Lt. Cmdr. Hayley Sims, a Navy spokeswoman.
‘Due to the size, weight and power requirements, some platforms will be better suited for the technology than others.’
Using an electromagnetic force known as the Lorenz Force, the gun accelerates a projectile between two rails that conduct electricity, before launching it at ferocious speed.
