Weapon of the Gods

[Childress]

 

 

Edited May 28, 2016 by Childress

[MOS:96B2P]

Wow.  Impressive if it works as advertised.  

[AttorneyAtWar]

We've come a long way since cannon balls that's for sure.

[IronCat60]

Man, I remember when lasers were science fiction. Now they are cat toys.

I am certainly no naval expert having been only a Master Gunner on the Bradley Fighting Vehicle. So this is just my two cents based on my overall knowledge of things.

I see four limitations on this weapons system.

One is the size of the components. A 25 Megawatt power plant has to be pretty big and what is going to power that plant? Nuclear? How about the size of the barrel and the trunnion? That thing looks like the love child of 16 and 8 inch naval guns. That added with the power plant is going to require a bit of ship redesign to put that 3lbs of apples into a 1lbs container. And we haven't even added in the weight of protective armor for the power plant and wiring.

Two is changeability of damaged components. That gun is just a paper weight without that power plant and its wiring. How much ready access will there be to the components that need to be repaired or swapped out. Will it require a dry dock and cutting into the hull? Or will they be forward thinking and make it modular with access from top deck level like the weapons systems for the Littoral Combat Ships.

Three is reload time. How long will it take to load a new projectile and the power plant to be ready? The description in the video it says it requires a 25 Megawatt power plant but does not disclose if that nominal power output is sufficient to discharge the weapon. Another thought is that a power plant of that size is needed to recharge capacitors which combined have a greater power output. Charging capacitors will definitely affect reload time.

Four is electromagnetic signature. When that gun fires will it produce a signature visible to the enemy? That signature could then be used to mark that ship as a priority target to remove the advantage of such a weapons system. The navies of our adversaries have ships that are designed to swarm targets with "fire and forget" missile barrages. How effective will this weapon be at destroying a multitude of rapidly closing targets.

 

 

[Michael Emrys]

8 hours ago, mech.gato said:

So this is just my two cents based on my overall knowledge of things.

Sounds like you have a pretty good handle on some of the problems. The need for a huge power plant just to operate this thing struck me immediately. Maybe at this stage the only thing it would be good for is defending fixed installations of great importance. How much power does the nuke power plant in a modern CVN produce? This reminds me of some of the wilder (and breathtakingly expensive) ideas of the SDI program. Might sound good in theory, but it might take a while for the technology to mature to the point where the actual weapons are effective and affordable. It would be quixotic to produce the flashiest weapons on the planet if we bankrupt the nation to do it.

Michael

[IronCat60]

O.k. I did some research into how big a power plant is needed to produce 25 megawatts. The link is a GE power plant. Notice it does not include a diagram of the entire system to include the intake and exhaust ducting, the geared power transfer system and lube oil system, generator and fuel systems for the generator.

Further research did not reveal any further helpful diagrams but several photos show that the primary generator components fit into a something the size of a 63ft Conex. Maybe another four containers. Two for additional components and two for dual fuel tanks to power a gas turbine.

So maybe this thing is feasible after all. But that power generator fully assembled will take up a whole lot of room. Also to keep it up for instant action will require dedicated man hours and prove to be maintenance and cost intensive.

http://www.geaviation.com/engines/docs/marine/datasheet-25mw.pdf

 

[StieliAlpha]

I think it is far too early, to discuss the technical details. The important message is: It can be done even now with a half ways reasonable effort. To give it some practical value will probably take a few more years and a few more billion dollars. What's the alternative to research? Spend the money on proven black powder designs?