Tag railgun

TDI Friday Read: Links You May Have Missed, 02 March 2018

Shawn Woodford
March 2, 2018

We are trying something new today, well, new for TDI anyway. This edition of TDI Friday Read will offer a selection of links to items we think may be of interest to our readers. We found them interesting but have not had the opportunity to offer observations or commentary about them. Hopefully you may find them useful or interesting as well.

The story of the U.S. attack on a force of Russian mercenaries and Syrian pro-regime troops near Deir Ezzor, Syria, last month continues to have legs.

Over at his new home at Task & Purpose, Tom Ricks relates a conversation he had with Eliot Cohen regarding the prospects for Russian retaliation against the U.S. for the attack: “How And Where Will Russia Retaliate For The US Airstrike That Killed Mercenaries In Syria?”
Newsweek reported on alleged intercepted phone calls by Russian mercenaries employed CHVK Wagner, a Russian private military company, describing the action at Deir Ezzor: “‘A Total F***up’: Russian Mercenaries in Syria Lament U.S. Strike That Killed Dozens.”
FRANCE 24 cited an alleged Russian paramilitary facilitator who stated that 218 Russian mercenaries died in the attack: “The business of war: Russian mercenaries in Syria.”
The Defense Post has an article describing the use of mercenaries in Syria by Russia: “An experimental playground: The footprint of Russian private military companies in Syria.”
The Jamestown Foundation’s Eurasia Daily Monitor has an interesting article by Pavel Felgenhauer, who has detected a familiar pattern in Russia’s supposed “gray zone” tactics: “Russia’s New (Old) Heavy Army.”

And a couple stories related to naval warfare…

The National Interest has a summary of the current dead/undead state of the U.S. Navy’s electromagnetic railgun program: “The Navy’s Electromagnetic Railgun Is Both Alive and Dead.”
Japanese researchers may have identified the remains of the Imperial Japanese Navy battleship Hiei, sunk by U.S. naval aircraft in November 1942: “Wreck of Japanese battleship Hiei may have been located off Solomon Islands.”

Finally, proving that there are, or soon will be, podcasts about everything, there is one about Napoleon Bonaparte and his era: The Age of Napoleon Podcast. We have yet to give it a listen, but if anyone else has, let us know what you think.

Have a great weekend.

Uncategorized

A Return To Big Guns In Future Naval Warfare?

Shawn Woodford
September 28, 2017

The first shot of the U.S. Navy Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) electromagnetic railgun, conducted at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren Division in Virginia on 17 November 2016. [ONR’s Official YouTube Page]

Defense One’s Patrick Tucker reported last month that the U.S Navy Office of Naval Research (ONR) had achieved a breakthrough in capacitor design which is an important step forward in facilitating the use of electromagnetic railguns in future warships. The new capacitors are compact yet capable of delivering 20 megajoule bursts of electricity. ONR plans to increase this to 32 megajoules by next year.

Railguns use such bursts of energy to power powerful electromagnets capable of accelerating projectiles to hypersonic speeds. ONR’s goal is to produce railguns capable of firing 10 rounds per minute to a range of 100 miles.

The Navy initiated railgun development in 2005, intending to mount them on the new Zumwalt class destroyers. Since then, the production run of Zumwalts was cut from 32 to three. With the railguns still under development, the Navy has mounted 155mm cannons on them in the meantime.

Development of the railgun and a suitable naval powerplant continues. While the Zumwalts can generate 78 megajoules of energy and the Navy’s current railgun design only needs 25 to fire, the Navy still wants advanced capacitors capable of powering 150-killowatt lasers for drone defense, and new generations of radars and electronic warfare systems as well.

While railguns are huge improvement over chemical powered naval guns, there are still doubts about their effectiveness in combat compared to guided anti-ship missiles. Railgun projectiles are currently unguided and the Navy’s existing design is less powerful than the 1,000 pound warhead on the new Long Range Anti-Ship Missile (LRASM).

The U.S. Navy remains committed to railgun development nevertheless. For one idea of the role railguns and the U.S.S. Zumwalt might play in a future war, take a look at P. W. Singer and August Cole’s Ghost Fleet: A Novel of the Next World War, which came out in 2015.

Sea Warfare

Tanks With Frickin’ Laser Beams On Their Heads

Shawn Woodford
August 17, 2017

Portent Of The Future: This Mobile High-Energy Laser-equipped Stryker was evaluated during the 2017 Maneuver Fires Integrated Experiment at Fort Sill, Oklahoma. The MEHEL can shoot a drone out of the sky using a 5kW laser. (Photo Credit: C. Todd Lopez)

As the U.S. Army ponders its Multi-Domain Battle concept for future warfare, it is also considering what types of weapons it will need to conduct it. Among these is a replacement for the venerable M1 Abrams Main Battle Tank (MBT), which is now 40 years old. Recent trends in combat are leading some to postulate a next-generation MBT that is lighter and more maneuverable, but equipped with a variety of new defensive capabilities to make them more survivable against modern anti-tank weapons. These include electronic jamming and anti-missile missiles, collectively referred to as Active Protection Systems, as well as unmanned turrets. Manned vehicles will be augmented with unmanned ground vehicles.The Army is also exploring new advanced composite armor and nanotechnology.

Also under consideration are replacements for the traditional MBT long gun, including high-power lasers and railguns. Some of these could be powered by hydrogen power cells and biofuels.

As the U.S. looks toward lighter armored vehicles, some countries appear to going in the other direction. Both Russia and Israel are developing beefed-up versions of existing vehicles designed specifically for fighting in urban environments.

The strategic demands on U.S. ground combat forces don’t allow for the luxury of fielding larger combat vehicles that complicate the challenge of rapid deployment to face global threats. Even as the historical trend toward increasing lethality and greater dispersion on the battlefield continues, the U.S. may have little choice other than to rely on technological innovation to balance the evolving capabilities of potential adversaries.