A novel railgun launch package concept

Author

Noel, Andrew P. ; Challita, Antonios ; Bauer, David P.

Author_Institution

IAP Res. Inc., Dayton, OH, USA

Volume

37

Issue

1

fYear

2001

fDate

1/1/2001 12:00:00 AM

Firstpage

97

Lastpage

100

Abstract

Low parasitic mass, high muzzle velocity railgun launch packages are required for railguns to compete with conventional guns. This paper describes a launch package concept for long rod penetrators which has the potential of achieving less than 50% parasitic mass and 3 km/s muzzle velocity. The launch package uses a new armature, a magnetic obturator design which does not require additional mass for contact loading and distributes the acceleration forces along the body of the projectile. This paper describes the launch package concept, summarizes the mechanical and magnetic analyses conducted, and presents subscale test results with velocities up to 3 km/s

Keywords

projectiles; railguns; weapons; 3 km/s; acceleration forces distribution; armature; contact loading; high muzzle velocity railgun launch packages; long rod penetrators; low parasitic mass; magnetic analysis; magnetic obturator; mechanical analysis; projectile; railgun launch package; subscale test results; Acceleration; Aluminum; Boring; Guns; Magnetic analysis; Packaging; Projectiles; Railguns; Rails; Testing;

fLanguage

English

Journal_Title

Magnetics, IEEE Transactions on

Publisher

ieee

ISSN

0018-9464

Type

jour

DOI

10.1109/20.911799

Filename

911799