{"id":3569,"date":"2019-01-02T10:38:16","date_gmt":"2019-01-02T13:38:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nachodelatorre.com.ar\/mosconi\/?p=3569"},"modified":"2019-01-02T10:38:16","modified_gmt":"2019-01-02T13:38:16","slug":"el-railgun-y-las-armas-de-energia-directa-dew-en-la-us-navy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/?p=3569","title":{"rendered":"El &#8220;RAILGUN&#8221; y las armas de energ\u00eda directa (DEW) en la US Navy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><u><\/u>La US NAVY contin\u00faa avanzando en el desarrollo del RAILGUN y asignando presupuestos para la etapa de ensayos operacionales, frente al avance de otras potencias como China en \u00e9ste \u00e1rea. Sin embargo, las \u00faltimas noticias indican que en el corto plazo, las prioridades est\u00e1n orientadas al desarrollo de DEW (Direct Energy Weapons). Este tipo de armas, principalmente los Sistemas LASER de estado s\u00f3lido, est\u00e1n destinados a complementar los sistemas de defensa a\u00e9rea cercana de los buques de la flota, para hacer frente a la amenaza frecuente de UAS y peque\u00f1as embarcaciones no tripuladas.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\">W<em>e have some answers.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>The Navy will continue to fund research and development efforts related to the service\u2019s much-hyped electromagnetic railgun but will likely not pursue a shipboard tactical demonstrator, according to sources briefed on the matter, a development that will likely condemn \u00a0the more than $500 million project to a R&amp;D limbo as the Department of Defense focuses on other directed energy programs.<\/p>\n<div class=\"ad ad--center\">\n<div>\n<div id=\"primisPlayerContainerDiv\"><iframe id=\"google_ads_iframe_dummy_sekindoParent80\" width=\"700\" height=\"476\" frameborder=\"0\" marginwidth=\"0\" marginheight=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\" allowfullscreen=\"allowfullscreen\"><\/iframe><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>A special \u201cInnovative Naval Prototypes\u201d line item in the Navy\u2019s fiscal 2019 budget proposal, published on Feb. 12, explicitly sets aside a hefty $45.8 million to \u201capplied research addressing the unique technical challenges inherent in the construction, assembly and operation\u201d of the railgun prototypes currently enjoying testing by engineers at the Office of Naval Research and Naval Sea Systems Command.<\/p>\n<p>This specific line item is just one of several that shape funding for the Pentagon\u2019s portfolio of directed energy projects, like solid-state lasers and the hypervelocity projectile, both of which have emerged as higher priorities than the railgun for the DoD in recent years. But as The War Zone notes, the explicit budget line indicates that the Navy hasn\u2019t completely given up on idea of developing a supergun capable of liquefying enemy armor from miles away \u2014 even if the service did request $10 million less than in fiscal 2018.<\/p>\n<p>But the new round of funding doesn\u2019t spell an end for the railgun development woes. According to congressional sources, Navy officials stated during a Feb. 15 briefing on the Navy\u2019s RDT&amp;E budget that while the service planned to continue funding railgun R&amp;D efforts, its previous decision to not pursue a shipboard tactical demonstrator remains in place, and the service has made no commitment to fielding one until the existing subsystems were fully proven.<\/p>\n<p>Those sources, who spoke to Task &amp; Purpose under the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to comment on internal budget discussions, came away with the understanding that while the railgun hasn\u2019t been abandoned outright, it\u2019s lower on the Pentagon\u2019s priority list of next-gen weapons than in previous years.<\/p>\n<p>While the Navy\u2019s directed energy funding lines aren\u2019t the most compelling tea leaves to read, this alleged unwillingness to commit to a demonstrator is reflected in the consolidation of electromagnetic railgun funding across other line items in the Navy\u2019s fiscal 2019 budget request. The service\u2019s Navy Warfighting Experiments And Demonstrations line, which would have funded prototyping \u201cfrom a subscale proof-of-principle into a full-scale prototype for warfighter experimentation during laboratory and operational demonstrations,\u201d fell from $64 million in fiscal 2018 to zilch, folded into a Navy Advanced Technology Development (ATD) line item (0603671N) \u2014 which lacks mention of a demonstrator.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, the Innovative Naval Prototypes line item (0603801N) \u2014 the same one where lawmakers consented to tack on an additional $15 million explicitly for a tactical demonstrator during budget negotiations \u2014 also picked up an additional $53.57 million in this year\u2019s budget proposal. But it\u2019s worth pointing out those funds are committed to directed energy weapons broadly: Indeed, the only explicit mention of a railgun demonstrator is couched in a vague promise \u201cto test and build full-scale electromagnetic railgun system prototypes that include the battery charging system, the pulsed power subsystem, and the electromagnetic launcher\u201d \u2014 with no specific dollar value attached.<\/p>\n<p>The Pentagon\u2019s apathy towards a full-scale railgun demonstrator is bad news for those excited about the prospect of eventually watching the supergun wreak havoc downrange. As Task &amp; Purpose previously reported, congressional and defense sources see the development of working shipboard as a crucial step to preventing the railgun from landing in a \u201cvalley of death\u201d between RDT&amp;E and procurement that prevent long-term engineering sources from ever advancing beyond applied research and development stage. \u201cFunding\u201d may be a necessary condition for the railgun to secure a future among America\u2019s arsenal, but it\u2019s not a sufficient one on its own.<\/p>\n<p>Ironically, that has less to do with funding than the maturity of U.S. electromagnetic systems generally. The unique (and freakishly complex) pulsed-power architecture required to fire off multiple shots at thirty-two megajoules of muzzle energy in the span of a minute still poses a major obstacle for Navy engineers, according to both congressional and Navy sources. The issues have proven indomitable enough that ONR and NAVSEA are still conducting rep-rate tests at Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division (NSWCDD) with the goal of reaching a target capacity for ten shots a minute \u2014 well beyond the 4.8 shots-per-minute rep-rate flaunted by ONR in a July 2017 update on the railgun\u2019s progress.<\/p>\n<p>These engineering obstacles have made other projects in the Navy\u2019s direct energy portfolio more appealing: The Navy\u2019s budget proposal calls for the continued development of the HVP initially developed as railgun ammo a decade ago. The Pentagon\u2019s secretive Strategic Capabilities Office has in recent years shifted its priorities away from the supergun in favor of rapidly proliferating the specialized shell for use in conventional artillery; in 2016, SCO even announced it had also Army and Air Force to quickly develop a new Hypervelocity Gun Weapon System independent from the electromagnetic railgun to accommodate the lethal new projectile.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Popular Mechanics points out that recent breakthroughs with conventional solid-state laser weapons have induced the Navy to propose $300 million to rapidly develop and equip shipborne laser weapons to fend off explosive-laden drones and small boats that could harass smaller Navy warships. The service recently announced that it planned on outfitting guided-missile destroyer USS Arleigh Burke with a 60-kw Surface Navy Laser Weapon System (SNLWS) as part of an integrated missile-and-drone defense system by 2020. With the entire DoD laser-focused on modernization and lethality, proven directed energy systems like the HVP and SNLWS are eminently more appealing than a railgun system that\u2019s still in the early stages of testing.<\/p>\n<p>So is the Navy\u2019s electromagnetic railgun alive or dead? The answer is, unfortunately, both. While broad RDT&amp;E efforts on electromagnetic tech will certainly continue under the watchful eye of ONR engineers, shifting budget priorities and technological hurdles may condemn the supergun to a limbo in anonymous labs and distant proving grounds until the technology is finally mature enough for the Pentagon to make a decision about its procurement and fielding.<\/p>\n<p>Until then, the electromagnetic railgun will remain the defense tech version of Schr\u00f6dinger\u2019s cat, both alive and dead in a state of constant quantum superposition until a single momentous (subatomic) event occurs. And the Navy and SCO had better hurry up and get there because China\u2019s electromagnetic railgun prototype is very much alive.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><strong>Fuente:<\/strong>\u00a0<em><a href=\"https:\/\/nationalinterest.org\/blog\/buzz\/navys-killer-railgun-it-happening-or-not-38702\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">https:\/\/nationalinterest.org<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>La US NAVY contin\u00faa avanzando en el desarrollo del RAILGUN y asignando presupuestos para la etapa de ensayos operacionales, frente al avance de otras potencias&hellip; <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[18,2,29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3569"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3569\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3569"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3569"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.fie.undef.edu.ar\/ceptm\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3569"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}