{"id":1948,"date":"2017-05-21T16:37:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-21T19:37:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nachodelatorre.com.ar\/mosconi\/?p=1948"},"modified":"2017-05-21T16:37:58","modified_gmt":"2017-05-21T19:37:58","slug":"el-canon-electromagnetico-de-la-us-navy-cada-vez-mas-cerca-de-su-entrada-en-servicio","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=1948","title":{"rendered":"El ca\u00f1on electromagn\u00e9tico de la US Navy cada vez mas cerca de su entrada en servicio"},"content":{"rendered":"

Los \u00faltimos ensayos operacionales llevados a cabo con el \u201cElectromagnetic railgun\u201d, evidencian que en el corto plazo, tal vez no m\u00e1s all\u00e1 del 2018, podr\u00eda ser realidad su entrada en servicio, al menos en unas pocas unidades y a modo de prueba. Adem\u00e1s de las ventajas operativas que presenta este ca\u00f1\u00f3n, que dispara un proyectil \u00a0impulsado por energ\u00eda electromagn\u00e9tica, a \u00a0velocidades de Mach 6 \u00a0y \u00a0que puede batir con precisi\u00f3n blancos hasta 180km, \u00a0la US Navy considera vital los beneficios que aporta este relativamente peque\u00f1o proyectil, a la cadena log\u00edstica y al almacenaje de munici\u00f3n en los buques. Adem\u00e1s, el inter\u00e9s mostrado tambi\u00e9n por el US Army, que analiza la posibilidad de emplear este moderno proyectil en su artiller\u00eda de campa\u00f1a de 155mm, evidencian que el sistema ha alcanzado un importante estado de madurez tecnol\u00f3gica.<\/p>\n

For more than three years now, I’ve been tracking the U.S. Navy’s progress toward building a working electromagnetic railgun prototype<\/a> — a Mach 6 cannon reputedly capable of striking targets 110 miles away with pinpoint accuracy.<\/p>\n

Each railgun projectile would cost about $25,000 to produce — and if you’re keeping track, then yes, success on the railgun project would yield a weapon boasting nearly twice the 67-mile range of Boeing<\/strong>‘s (NYSE:BA<\/a>)<\/span> Harpoon II missile\u00a0but costing just 1\/48th the Boeing missile’s $1.2 million cost.<\/p>\n

That right there tells you why the Navy is so very interested in this weapon. But on top of the ammunition savings, a switch from missiles (Boeing’s Harpoon measures 12-and-a-half feet in length and more than a foot in diameter) to railguns (a projectile is only 18 inches long and a few inches round) would permit a warship to carry a lot more rounds in its munitions locker than it currently can, yielding immeasurable savings in the logistics supply chain.<\/p>\n

As I say, I’ve been following this story for three years<\/a>\u00a0— but now, we may finally be getting to the good part.<\/p>\n

\"Warship<\/p>\n

Artist’s rendering of a railgun mounted on USNS Millinocket<\/em>. Image source: U.S. Navy.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Ready, aim, test!<\/strong><\/p>\n

Last we heard<\/a>, the Navy was planning to conduct its first at-sea live-fire exercise of the railgun aboard the expeditionary fast transport\u00a0<\/em>USNS\u00a0Millinocket<\/em>\u00a0(T-EPF-3) sometime this year. A successful test could permit installation of a working railgun aboard the new Zumwalt<\/em>-class destroyer\u00a0Lyndon B. Johnson<\/em>\u00a0(DDG-1002) by the time she is commissioned in 2018 — or not.<\/p>\n

Turns out there has been some talk\u00a0about potentially delaying the at-sea demonstration, or even skipping it altogether, and going straight to installation of an operational railgun aboard Lyndon B. Johnson <\/em>— but no official change in the testing schedule has been yet announced. Meanwhile, the Navy is pushing ahead with testing of the weapon on land.<\/p>\n

Last month, the U.S. Navy posted a video online reviewing a Nov. 17, 2016, land-fire exercise testing the railgun’s capabilities.<\/p>\n