PRC/PLAN Laser and Rail Gun Development Thread
- Thread starter SinoSoldier
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lcloo
Major
It could be anything, but we shall not discount it as a gun. In 2013, we had seen photos of huge "super gun" testing, also in the desert in China. It was discussed in this forum, if some older members can recall.
Chinese Supergun?
Satellite imagery reveals mystery 'supergun' in Chinese desert Sean O'Connor, Indianapolis - IHS Jane's Defence Weekly Satellite imagery reveals mystery 'supergun' in Chinese desert - IHS Jane's 360 Satellite imagery has revealed two unusually large artillery pieces, measuring...
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Testing does not mean the guns will be developed for induction into PLA service. Many such tests were done to evaluate the feasibility of the validity of concept and their effectiveness. Results of the evaluation will influence PLA's decision in adopting such weapon.
The most recent one was the coil gun on a PLAN LST type 072III Haiyang in 2018.
If it's at an established artillery range, I think it is somewhat more likely that it is a gun of some sort.
Fair enough. My impression, and its really just that, is that this is plausibly some sort of electronic/radar equipment. Considering the somewhat bulky "muzzle brake", and also the other equipment grouped around it. But of course speculative.
I wonder what the power output of LY-1 is? Has there been any confirmed stats or speculation based on size? Given that it is a shipboard system (or at least one of the possible applications is shipboard) it should be fairly high output.
Given the size of the aperture, as well as the fact that we are also seeing it in a land configuration (probably with at least another vehicle for power/cooling as part of the system), most educated guesses go for sth ~100kW with 150kW being a probable upper limit.
We have seen a couple of rumors for power ratings up to double that number, I don't think they are realistic though personally.
We will have to see if/when more info becomes available.
Yeah I mean if one was looking at it purely only on the object's geometry, it could be other things as well as a large gun+supports.
But it tilts it slightly more in a gun's favour if it was taken at an established artillery range.
There's no public information and guesses are just that. The entire field of DEWs, despite decades of effort, remains so novel and specs depend on the exact system in question, that we cannot plausibly read performance specs off a systems appearance. For NN I wrote "double digit kW range" because that is the established low end output of these systems in experimental guise. But it is therefore a floor, not a ceiling. Low 100s range is just as plausible, but already a little more challenging, especially for something you intend to field operationally.
That’s way underestimated. 300KW is the lower limit considering that it needs to be able to hard kill subsonic cruise missiles.
Maybe the vehicle version can use less powerful mode while on ship it has more power?