Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
I don't think you can use a very old test bed to draw conclusion on the gun that is now tested wait and see
PRC/PLAN Laser and Rail Gun Development Thread
- Thread starter SinoSoldier
- Start date
I don't think you can use a very old test bed to draw conclusion on the gun that is now tested wait and see
And future 055 variants I imagin, if not primarily.
Doubt this gun will ever find its way to a frigate, but I wouldn’t count on this test item being the final size of the weapon.
You only need to worry if the new gun system is effective. If it is, warships will be redesigned around the gun, not the other way around.
Depends on what the envisioned role of this particular weapon is. Maybe it harbingers far more powerful and advanced EM launchers for more comprehensive mission sets, but by itself this one is probably just meant to replace the standard gun mounted on destroyers.
You are absolutely right. But the timeline is too soon. I doubt it will come soon within the lifetime of existing hulls. The first gen rail could be equipped, say, a decade later. By then the doctrine could've been developed beyond recognition. If we still need 4000-ton class ships doing what a current ship's been doing, then the railgun/coilgun needs to be made smaller and lighter. IMHO because the weapon system change is so vast, it will drive changes at the root of Navy. What types of ships will be produced is the result of that change so it is unknown at this point.
On the other hand, people are saying the railgun/coilgun is voluminous but not heavy.
If they’re doing open water tests on a ship then I don’t think they’re far away from completion of this particular weapon. I honestly expect this one to be mounted on an IEP powered 055A in maybe 2-5 years.
Edit: Unless you’re talking about more advanced EM launcher concepts going into the future, in which case I expect more evolutionarily incremental updates for a while before we arrive at a more radical conceptual departure from today’s ship designs. I think the biggest bottleneck will continue to be power supply, which might take some time to advance.
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Except there may be other parallel project, Proffessor Ma's team was on to a railgun.
电磁发射系统中电力电子技术的应用与发展
Hendrik_2000
Lieutenant General
New pic from Oedo
The reason for using 3.072 type landing ship is the same as 2 above. The 072 type deck is large, it has plenty of room to install a number of power generation facilities, and Kanui also has a large hangar so you can install more kinds of facilities. Parts shown in the picture: Control equipment from the left of the deck, power generation equipment. A new observation room and facilities were installed on the bridge to observe the test.
The reason for using 3.072 type landing ship is the same as 2 above. The 072 type deck is large, it has plenty of room to install a number of power generation facilities, and Kanui also has a large hangar so you can install more kinds of facilities. Parts shown in the picture: Control equipment from the left of the deck, power generation equipment. A new observation room and facilities were installed on the bridge to observe the test.
That is the center issue. How big the ship has to be to be able to put in the electricity generator, power storage (batteries and supercapacitors) and controlling modules (those big boxes). These are extras that are meant to replace the gun shell magazines. If they can not be smaller (in the near future), frigate may have to be enlarged to the size of a destroyer.