Navy will build electromagnetic gun test site.The U.S. Navy is preparing to break ground on a program dedicated to testing the science behind electromagnetic rail guns. The Navy will begin the construction of a new building devoted to the project will begin construction this summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Noun 1. Naval Surface Warfare Center - the agency that provides scientific and engineering and technical support for all aspects of surface warfare NSWC at Dahlgren, Va. The Navy said it hopes it can develop an electromagnetic rail gun by 2010, and possibly deploy it aboard the electric-powered DD-X destroyer. Rail guns require a pulse power system to get instant electrical charges needed to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic hy·per·son·ic adj. Of, relating to, or capable of speed equal to or exceeding five times the speed of sound. hy velocities. Its rapid flight time and 200-kilometer range make these guns a tempting option for future naval weapons. Researchers at Dahlgren will be studying the power supply, pulse forming networks and the rails themselves, said Naval Sea Systems Command The Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) is the largest of the U.S. Navy's five "systems commands," or materiel organizations. NAVSEA consists of four shipyards, eight "warfare centers" (two undersea and six surface), four major shipbuilding locations and the NAVSEA headquarters, spokesman David Caskey. "The basic physics have been around for 80 years," he said. "I think things opened up when the Navy decided their next generation ship would be electric." If the EM gun works as promised, it would add considerable firepower to the DD-X, which already is being designed with two 155 mm guns that fire GPS-guided shells out to about 100 kilometers, half the expected range of an EM gun. Researchers figure that the power requirements associated with electromagnetic weapons would be easier to handle on an electric-powered ship. Advances in alternating current power systems have made generators more compact. According to according to prep. 1. As stated or indicated by; on the authority of: according to historians. 2. In keeping with: according to instructions. 3. Lt. Cmdr. David Allen Adams, a pulse power system needed to support a 250-nautical mile rail gun could fit into existing 5-inch gun mounts. In a recent article published by the U.S. Naval Institute, Adams wrote that electromagnetic guns are projected to have low firing rates, hovering at about six shots a minute. However, the lower flight times and massive range--two minutes for payload to reach 100 miles--makes up for that deficit. Another benefit of EM guns is that they do not require explosive warheads, reducing shipboard ship·board n. 1. The condition of being aboard a ship: on shipboard. 2. Archaic The side of a ship. adj. hazards. "The projectile projectile something thrown forward. projectile syringe see blow dart. projectile vomiting forceful vomiting, usually without preceding retching, in which the vomitus is thrown well forward. is basically going into space," Caskey said. "It could really change the way you look at ballistics ballistics (bəlĭs`tĭks), science of projectiles. Interior ballistics deals with the propulsion and the motion of a projectile within a gun or firing device. . |
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