US Navy Producing Scaled-Down Rail Gun Naval Weapon
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Back in March 2006, BAE Systems received a contract for “design and production of the 32 MJ Laboratory Launcher for the U.S. Navy.” Some hint of what they are talking about can be gleaned from the name. The project is an electro-magnetic rail gun that accelerates a projectile to incredibly high speeds without using explosives.
The attraction of such systems is no mystery – they promise to fire their ammunition 10 or more times farther than conventional naval gun shells, while sharply reducing both the required size of each shell and the amount of explosive material carried on board ship. Progress is being made, but there are still major technical challenges to overcome before a working rail gun becomes a serious naval option. This DID FOCUS article looks at the key technical challenges, the programs, and the history of key contracts and events. Recent additions include another R&D contract to General Atomics…
- Rail Guns: Concept & Technology Developments
- Rail Guns: US Program Information
- Rail Guns: Key Contracts & Events
- Additional Readings & Sources
Rail Guns: Concept & Technology Developments
gun & ammo mock-up
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As a BAE release put it:
“An electro-magnetic railgun uses electrical energy to accelerate projectiles to extreme velocities. Railguns do not require powders or explosives to fire the round and therefore free magazine space for other mission areas. In addition, electro-magnetic guns provide a highly consistent and uniform explosive charge that gives much greater accuracy.”
The technology involves sending an electric current along parallel rails up and through an iron rod that connects the poles of a magnet, firing its projectile. If all goes well, the projectile flies at speeds above Mach 7 and hits its target still traveling at about Mach 5; gun ranges of up to 500 km/ 300 miles have been discussed for such a system.
Technically, the biggest challenges are two-fold: The barrel, and the capacitors.
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Super-high speed for the fired object = super-high friction in the barrel. The armature also has a tendency to create transitioning, which is a fancy way of saying it creates very hot gas when you move it in the barrel at those speeds. The gun has to be able to take that heat and pressure without deforming, blowing up, or acquiring ballistic characteristics that will make the next shot inaccurate.
The other big challenge is capacitors. There are reports that officials will be unable to use BAE’s delivered gun until late 2008 or early 2009, because the Navy will be late in buying 100 capacitors that are big enough to power 32 MJ of muzzle energy. Their cost, the size of the order, and the limited industrial base for that sort of thing will all create delays. They also create practical limitations on what sorts of ships can mount a rail gun.
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The DDG-1000 Zumwalt Class destroyers are going to be all-electric ships, using fully integrated power systems that deliver 78 MW to drive propulsion and onboard electronics. That improved generating capacity is one reason they are most frequently envisaged as the ships that might be mounting EM weapons in future. In truth, any platform with sufficient space and power could be configured to mount them, but right now the power requirements and the physical size of capacitors that would be big enough are key limiting issues.
In related news, Jane’s has also reported that UT-IAT (University of Texas – Institute of Advanced Technology) has devised a common low-cost projectile concept for both naval surface-fire support and army non line-of-sight (NLOS) engagements using an EM rail gun launcher. The projectile has a flight mass of 15 kg and contains either multiple kinetic-energy flechettes (darts), or a smaller number of sub-penetrators made of tungsten. In its naval guise it has a muzzle energy of 64 MJ (mega-joules); a muzzle velocity of 2,500 m/s; a maximum range in excess of 500 km and an impact velocity of 1,600 m/s.
That effort was part of a 2003 US Navy contract worth up to $10 million over five years, as part of a $100 million research package in the Navy’s 2004 budget.
Rail Guns: US Program Information
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As of February 2007, the US Navy has invested a total of $36 million in this effort, and total expenditures by the end of Phase 1 is 2011 are expected to be around $276 million.
BAE Systems was selected by ONR to advance to the next phase of the Innovative Naval Prototype Program. Under this 30-month phase, BAE Systems will take the state-of-the-art Electro-Magnetic Railgun technologies through technology maturation and develop a preliminary design of a 32-MJ EM Railgun. Thirty-two megajule is equivalent to a firing speed of Mach 8 or eight times the speed of sound. This will be an intermediate step on the road to a 64-MJ Tactical System capable of deployment on-board naval surface combatant ships, but as of 2007 Popular Mechanics reports that a 64MJ system does not look likely before 2020.
BAE Systems will execute these contracts in conjunction with teammates IAP Research, Inc. in Dayton, OH and Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC) in Vienna, VA. This team has promised to deliver the 32 megajoules lab launcher to ONR’s Electromagnetic Launch Facility, located in Virginia at the Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Dahlgren Division Laboratory, in June 2007.
This will will provide an “instrumented environment” for service officials to better understand and control the inside of the gun’s barrel, which is currently one of the program’s top challenges. Additional studies have also been charactered to cover ship integration, the effect of electromagnetic energy on personnel and systems, the potential logistics benefits of having rail gun systems aboard ships, and different types of potential projectiles. Then, as noted above, they must deal with the industrial challenge of acquiring adequate capacitors.
The Office of Naval Research’s EMRG program is part of the Department of the Navy’s Science and Technology investments, and involves a broad consortium of partners. ONR has facilitated a key partnership between leading scientists and engineers that also includes people from Boeing, Charles Stark Draper Lab, Inc., General Atomics, the US Department of Energy’s Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, the US Naval Academy, the US Naval Postgraduate School, US Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) PMS-500, Naval Surface Warfare Center’s Carderock and Dahlgren Divisions, the US Army, and the United Kingdom.
If the rail gun passes its planned 2009 review, and the technology is deemed mature enough to continue, Phase I is expected to end in 2011. Phase 2 would end in FY 2015 if all goes well thereafter, and will focus on developing the projectile. Test sites that might work for that effort are being scoped out, with White Sands Missile Range, NM, and Army Yuma Proving Ground, AZ as top candidates. The hope is that the rail gun can switch from a science and technology effort to full research and development under Naval Sea Systems Command in FY 2015, with “sea demos” of a tactical system with 64 MJ of muzzle energy in FY 2016 and fielding during 2020-2024 – but those dates will likely prove challenging, barring some breakthroughs over the next decade.
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April 15/09: General Atomics in San Diego, CA received $22.1 million for a cost plus fixed fee task order under a previously awarded contract (N00014-06-D-0056, #0005) for technology development and design of an EM Rail Gun. The firm is also he main contractor for the Navy’s EMALS electro-magnetic catapult for aircraft carriers, which uses similar principles to a different end.
Work will be performed in San Diego, CA, and is expected to be complete in February 2012.The contract was competitively procured under Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) 05-003 by the Office of Naval Research in Arlington, VA.
Feb 9/09: BAE Systems Land and Armament LP in Minneapolis, MN received a $21.3 million delivery order under a previously awarded contract (N00014-06-D-0046) to research and develop an Advanced Containment Launcher for an Electromagnetic Rail Gun. BAE’s follow-on release describes the 30-month contract as:
”...detailed design and delivery of an Innovative Naval Prototype (INP) Railgun…. including a composite launcher (barrel) that will be demonstrated in 2011.”
BAE Systems is partnered with IAP Research, and SAIC. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, MN and is expected to be complete in September 2011. This contract was competitively procured under Office of Naval Research Broad Agency Announcement 05-003.
Feb 3/09: The Institute of Advanced Technology at University of Texas, Austin received a $9.1 million cost plus fixed-fee contract to perform railgun assessment. Founded in 1990, IAT Electromagnetic Systems is an autonomous research unit tasked with aiding the U.S. Army and Navy with rail gun technology. IAT showed off a technology demonstrator at the 24th Army Science Conference (ASC 2004).
Work will include laboratory testing and scalability between small and medium scale launchers, pulsed power assessment, and conceptual prototyping and assessment of electromagnetic railgun contractor development items including advanced containment launcher and pulsed power systems. This contract contains options, which is exercised, would bring the contract value to $12.1 million.
Work will be performed in Austin, TX and is expected to be complete Jan 31/12. Contract funds in the amount of $10,000 will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured under the Office of Naval Research Broad Agency Announcement Number 08-001 (N00014-09-C-0187).
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March 18/08: DARPA’s full-scale, fully cantilevered electromagnetic railgun successfully launches a projectile with similar size and weight a 120mm mortar, at speeds of 430 meters-per-second. That’s faster than the 101-318 meter/second speed of regular mortar firings, which translates into greater energy and range.
The 120mm mortar is an inherently simple system, whose virtues include the reliability that simplicity delivers. That’s why the US Marines are relying on a 120mm mortar as their EFSS system. That extra energy, and accompanying range, may offer the revolutionary potential for artillery gun range in a mortar-size weapon. The flip side is that a rail gun’s greater complexity and inherent fragility introduces issues of cost, reliability, and dependence on the system’s energy source.
DARPa’s says that its 2.4m, 950 kg railgun is currently the largest caliber supersonic railgun in the world. It is certainly the first-ever successful full scale cantilevered railgun to shoot a mortar-size projectile. The cantilevered design is used to change aiming on a shot-to-shot basis, just as a regular mortar does. Built-in muzzle shunts quickly extinguish muzzle arc, and reduce muzzle flash. DARPA release [PDF]
Jan 31/08: Another step forward. Center, The Navy’s Office of Naval Research (ONR) successfully conducted a record-setting firing of an electromagnetic rail gun at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, VA, firing at 10.64MJ (megajoules) with a muzzle velocity of 2,520 meters per second. Let’s see: 3,600 seconds per hour, 0.62 miles per kilometer… yes, that’s over 5,600 miles per hour. The speed of sound is about 760 mph at sea level, so it’s about Mach 7.4.
Note the ‘transitioning’ plasma visible in the high speed camera photo, which offers some illustration of what the material design crew is up against. Navy release.
July 30/07: Envisioneering, Inc. in Alexandria, VA received a sole source $9.2 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for systems analysis, system/component design and development, system test and evaluation, data collection and analysis in support of the US Navy’s Directed Energy and Electric Weapons Program Office (PMS-405).
Work will be performed in King George, VA (92%); Kauai, Hawaii (6%); and Kirkland, WA (2%), and is expected to be complete by July 2012. The contract was not competitively procured, as “Envisioneering is the only known source with the knowledge and technical capability to provide the services and support required to meet milestones and deadlines.” The solicitation was, however, posted on the world wide web via Navy Electronic Commerce Online by the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Crane, IN (N00164-07-D-8900).
Jan 19/07: NAVSEA release:
“A new Electromagnetic Launch Facility (EMLF) was dedicated at NAVSEA Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Dahlgren during a ceremony hosted by the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Jan. 16, in which a high speed projectile pierced the ceremonial ribbon…. The mission of the Electromagnetic Rail Gun (EMRG) program is to develop the science and technology necessary to design, test, produce, and install a revolutionary 64 Mega Joule (MJ) EMRG aboard U.S. Navy ships in the 2020 – 2025 timeframe. The current phase of the program extends through 2011.”
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July 6/06: BAE reported the next phase as well: a $9.3 million contract from the Office of Naval Research (ONR) to develop technologies and preliminary design for an Electro-Magnetic (EM) railgun prototype.
March 3/06: BAE Armament Systems Division in Minneapolis, MN receives a contract for the “design and production of the 32 MJ Laboratory Launcher for the U.S. Navy.” It is a $5.5 million cost-plus-fixed-fee contract for the design and production of the 32 MJ Laboratory Launcher for the U.S. Navy. Work will be performed in Minneapolis, MN (66%) and Dayton, OH (37%), and is expected to be complete by August 2007. The contract was competitively procured and advertised via Federal Business Opportunities site, with three offers received. The Naval Surface Weapons Center, Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, VA issued the contract (N00178-06-C-1008).
April 18/05: The University of Texas at Austin’s Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) Electromagnetic Systems Division showed off its electromagnetic rail gun (RailGun) technology demonstrator at the 24th Army Science Conference (ASC 2004).
Founded in 1990, IAT Electromagnetic Systems is an autonomous research unit tasked with helping the U.S. Army and Navy develop rail gun technology. For full details, see the Defense Review article “IAT Electromagnetic Systems Division Developing Rail Gun Tech for U.S. Military.”
- US Office of Naval Research – EM Railgun Fact Sheet [PDF]
- Naval Research Advisory Committee – (February 2004) – Electromagnmetic (EM) Gun Technology Assessment [PDF format]. See also their terms of reference [PDF]
- General Atomics – Advanced Weapon Launcher (AWL) Systems and Technologies. “GA is currently supporting the development of advanced pulsed power, launcher, and projectile technology as part of the Office of Naval Research’s (ONR) Railgun Innovative Naval Prototype Program. In addition, GA is pursuing opportunities within the Navy to transition similar technology for Naval Ship Defense and for the development of ‘Cold Electromagnetic Missile Launch’ technology.”
- National Defense (November 2007) – Electric Guns on Navy ships: Not Yet on The Horizon. “In laboratories, scientists have demonstrated the art of the possible: muzzle energy of 9 megajoules, currents of three million amps and velocities close to the Navy’s specifications, says Zowarka. But boosting the muzzle energy from 9 to 64 megajoules, the amps from 3 million to 6 million and the bore size from four inches in diameter to six or seven inches remain a challenge…. Major research efforts are focused on materials to extend the bore life of the gun to allow multiple firings of the high-speed projectiles…. Anything traveling at thousands of miles an hour will tear raw metal…. On top of the research challenges, there are engineering difficulties. “You have to get the current there, and then you have to manage these tremendous forces between the rails…”
- Popular Mechanics (Nov 14/07) – World’s Most Powerful Rail Gun Delivered to Navy. “While the 32-MJ LRG should start firing soon, it could take another 13 years for a 64-megajoule system to be built and deployed on a ship…. Effective rail guns will require a major breakthrough in materials between now and 2020, to keep the guns themselves from being shredded by each high-velocity barrage.”
- Inside the Navy (Feb 2/07) – Navy ‘Rail Gun’ Moves Forward
- Jane’s Naval Intelligence (June 17/03) Naval warfare at the speed of light
