Power system modelling for a tactical railgun demonstrator

Results of a prefeasibility study of electromagnetic launchers for a tactical applications demonstrator are described. The object of this work was to study the power system requirements for a 12 MJ (kinetic energy) railgun system which would be used to demonstrate the accuracy and lethality of hypervelocity projectiles (up to 3.5 km/s) fired from a railgun. Theoretical work is presented as a basis for scoping calculations to determine the required pulse energies for a railgun power system, as a function of the required projectile peak-to-mean-acceleration ratio; this shows that the introduction of a requirement for a low peak-to-mean ratio increases the barrel energy demand for a given total muzzle energy. Results are also presented from the numerical analysis of both capacitor and homopolar generator systems