The Chinese navy is reportedly testing the planet’s most powerful coil gun which can accelerate a 124kg projectile in a firing test to a speed of 700km/h in less than 0.05 seconds. It was the heaviest known projectile to be used in a coil gun experiment. A normal torpedo move at 58 mph and have a 24 mile range. The China coilgun torpedo looks like it is 15 inches wide instead of the US coilgun system with 4 inch wide projectiles.
Above – The Chinese team developed a smart projectile equipped with sensors that are shielded from electromagnetic interference, allowing them to collect better data. Photo: Naval University of Engineering
A 120mm-calibre (4 inches wide) electromagnetic coil mortar test device at the Sandia National Laboratories in the United States is one of the closest rivals to the Chinese coil gun. Among the largest of these devices ever built, the device is capable of firing a projectile weighing 18kg.
According to Professor Guan Xiaocun of the Naval University of Engineering, the coil gun has several advantages over traditional artillery, including faster launch speeds and lower launch costs. They published a paper in the peer-reviewed journal Transactions of China Electrotechnical Society that the coil gun “as the potential for revolutionary breakthroughs in terms of speed, range, power, accuracy, safety, flexibility and reliability. The coil gun could eventually have applications in areas such as weapon systems, near-earth satellites and high-speed missile launches.
The Chinese military’s 30-stage coil gun is still in the testing phase.
Brian Wang is a Futurist Thought Leader and a popular Science blogger with 1 million readers per month. His blog Nextbigfuture.com is ranked #1 Science News Blog. It covers many disruptive technology and trends including Space, Robotics, Artificial Intelligence, Medicine, Anti-aging Biotechnology, and Nanotechnology.
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Could we at least TRY to get to some common math/science/engineering units?
435 MPH = 700 km/h = 195 meters per sec m/s
124 kg is 124 kg.
0.05 s doesn’t need changing.
So, remembering (v = at) then (a = v/t) and a = 195 ÷ 0.05 s = 3,900 m/s²
This is 396 G’s.
195 m/s is also Mach 0.58
Not particularly fast.
Kind of like the velocity of a air powered BB gun.
But the point is that the Chinese have a Science demonstrator. Showing that they successfully accelerated the coil-frame to a respectable speed in one assumes a respectfully short distance.
(d = ½at² … = 0.5 × 3,900 × 0.05² = only 2.5 meters)
See, that is quite a short barrel. Theoretically, of course. In reality, it ought to be markedly longer, just to house the test-bed, and to give some rifling to the thing. So it’d go straight. Where pointed. Albeit slowly.
If similar tech were scaled ‘reasonably’, say … 10 meter barrel, 10× the acceleration then working backwards:
d = ½at² → t² = 2d/a … t = √( 2d/a ) = √( 2 × 10 ÷ 40,000 ) = 0.022 sec
v = at = 40,000 × 0.022 = 900 m/s
Ah, now we have a proper close combat naval gun. Mach 2.7.
See? Math and Physics are our friends.
⋅-⋅-⋅ Just saying, ⋅-⋅-⋅
⋅-=≡ GoatGuy ✓ ≡=-⋅
Assuming it’s actually a mortar, and that they are actually launching that mass at that speed, then this is truly significant.
Coil guns don’t tear themselves apart the way rail guns do. Decades of research on rail guns hasn’t shown a great deal of success. But if a coil gun could actually work, then it might end up in widespread use.
On a large ship with nuclear power, it could be an impressive weapon. On land, it would be able to stop any tank within visible range. And the price per shot could be very low.
The biggest potential problems would be a slow refire rate, and large/expensive capacitor banks (or inductor banks). But maybe those can be solved.
Only way I can see to achieve that speed underwater (for more then a fraction of a second), is if the round being fired is supercavitating.
Bad news for China: Every major Chinese naval vessel and commercial container ship is now paired with nuclear powered fully autonomous American torpedoes! They are all being tracked by these weapons, and the second China steps out of line, their entire Navy and commercial fleet will be instantly destroyed. That is phase one. Long range tactical missiles are also targeted on Chinese infrastructure, including 3 Gorges…
Think twice CCP
This is probably a translation error. Instead of “torpedo”, it’s probably “projectile” or “missile” or “shell”. I see the linked article doesn’t even mention the word “torpedo”. Where did the idea come from that it’s for torpedos?
I am saying it is a torpedo. It is China’s Navy. Navy’s fire big cannons, missiles and torpedos. The thing in the picture is not a cannon shell, it is not a missile. Closest is a Torpedo. Accelerating something which looks like and quacks like a torpedo.
Brian actually the projectile in the picture looks exactly like a mortar. Being they estimate 120mm would line up perfect with existing 120mm mortar systems.
Umm, a ‘torpedo’? You’re planning on firing that thing into the water? How much payload is available compared to the structural members to keep it from disintegrating when it hits the water?
Does it have any propulsion for change the course so it hits a target or do you have to line up the whole coil gun?
Speaking of which – how does it handle final phase target acquisition? or is a decoy as good as a carrier?
File this under #LostInTranslation
Maybe it’s fired a bit above the surface and skips like a rock, so it doesn’t lose nearly all its kinetic energy in the first second?
“Launching Smart Torpedos at 435 MPH” – Uhhh … no.
Not just “no”, but, who-has-even-the-slightest-understanding-of-physics (or torpedoes)-&-thinks-this-would-work, NO.
If they are anything like the Russians, and actually do develop an advanced weapon system, they will make one or two and call it a day, then spend several years making ominous warnings about its mass deployment.