China confirms that are testing an electromagnetic railguns on a navy ship. Zhang Xiao, associate research fellow at the Wuhan-based PLA Naval University of Engineering, led a team to develop repeating pulsating direct current power system that could charge the railgun. The same team solved technical issues for shipborne electromagnetic launching systems that will be …
Military.com reports that Admiral John Richardson told the House Appropriations subcommittee that the US Navy is fully invested in railgun and is continuing tests. The railgun tests demonstrated it at lower firing rates and … shorter ranges. Now the US Navy is working on the engineering to increase the firing rates and the 80- to …
The 2008 purchase of Dynex Semiconductor by Chinese railway firm Zhouzhou CRRC Times Electric helped the development of the Chinese navy’s new railguns. Dynex is one of the UK’s leading manufacturers of high-powered semiconductors, including insulated-gate bipolar transistors (IGBTs), which play an important role in energy conversion systems. Zhouzhou CRRC Times Electric bought Dynex for …
China is developing a lead with railgun technology and affordable electromagnetic launchers because it appears to be mastering medium voltage DC power for ships and land bases. By 2022, China should have twenty fortified islands in the South China Sea. This will be up from about 7 to 12 today. China should have over fifty …
The US is losing its naval military technology lead because of inadequate electrical engineering and problems with large project management and political and industrial corruption. The political and industrial corruption aspect is sen in the high cost of * the Zumwalt destroyer (nearly $8 billion a piece -4 times more than the Burke destroyer) * …
Just over 60 year ago the Soviet’s launched the basic Sputnik satellite. Sputnik was not a weapon but it showed that the Soviet Union was competitive with US military technology. On Oct. 4, 1957, the Soviet Union launched the world’s first satellite—Sputnik—into orbit. The Soviets had already detonated an atomic bomb in 1949. China has …
China seems to have made a lot of progress making more practical electromagnetic catapults for aircraft carriers and such electromagnetic catapults could be scaled to launch large drones from smaller ships. In a presentation at the PLAN University Rear Admiral Ma Weiming told Chinese experts in electromagnetic research that China had made breakthroughs in key …
Photos tweeted from Dafeng Cao and many other appears to show that China has mounted a railgun onto a landing ship. Above – Type 072III landing ship tank (LST) Haiyang Shan, #936, would be the world’s first railgun-armed warship. Its small size and lack of combat features means that it will likely be used to …
Popular Science is reporting that China has secret railgun and electromagnetic launcher programs that are competitive with the United States. Above is the US 32 megajoule railgun undergoing rapid fire testing Landbased electromagnetic launchers have been photographed undergoing tests in China. There had not been any indication that China had a competitive railgun program. China’s …
Navy hypervelocity projectile tests from Navy ships will start soon. The Hyper Velocity Projectile (HVP) is a next-generation, common, low drag, guided projectile capable of executing multiple missions for a number of gun systems. TheUS Navy plans to issue a Broad Agency Announcement soliciting a mature design concept for 5-inch guided projectile to support a …
General Atomics has acquired Syntronics, a developer and manufacturer of custom electromechanical technologies including projectile and missile guidance systems, in-flight and ground-based shock-resistant instrumentation, and related software technologies. The acquired company will become part of General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems Group (GA-EMS). Scott Forney, president of GA-EMS, said of the acquisition of Syntronics: “Their level of …