PRC/PLAN Laser and Rail Gun Development Thread

[Jura The idiot]

Firing with a minimal arc (flat) trajectory.

yeah while asking I wasn't aware of what you said 17 minutes ago

 

[Iron Man]

Not sure where you get your 10km from WWII vintage ships were happily peppering each other in the North Atlantic at greater ranges using optical range finders and analog computers (Bismarck sunk Hood at 14,000m !) so expect a rail gun with greater muzzle velocity hence shorter time to target plus more modern gun laying kit to be accurate to the effective horizon (~36km) beyond that things get more interesting as OTH targeting requires external inputs, but given the projectiles are cheap and plentiful c.f. missiles they could go back to bracketing the target till it's hit!

Not sure even a rail gun is the ideal weapon for 200km engagements against moving surface targets although using a 'gun' to sling shot some kind of missile/glider (perhaps a mini WU-14) has possibilities but looking at a pretty large calibre weapon!

Exactly. Just because it's a ballistic trajectory doesn't mean long range unguided fire especially against static targets is impossible. We aren't talking about destroying a moving tank 200km away, rather bases, buildings, fuel/ammo dumps, weapons emplacements, etc. Fast speed resulting in low time of exposure to crosswinds and modern instrumentation makes railgun/coilgun projectiles far less susceptible to error than back in the day. Against moving OTH targets, guidance is obviously necessary.

 

[Jura The idiot]

another question is a railgun's sustained rate of fire (battleships etc. had the firing tactics of starting with partial salvos, which would be "continuously" used to converge at the target, and then ... ouch)
anyone?

(for now have to leave this armchair admiralling event LOL)

 

[Jura The idiot]

OK before I leave:

View attachment 45196
Has this picture been posted before?

I noticed
Yesterday at 4:33 PM

Repost from the other thread.
Looks like it is heading out already. And even a real turret and not a scaffolding. High degree of maturity, if one can say so.

Hopefully, we will hear something about the test in the coming days.

I think we won't here anything at all! (personally I wish I'm wrong)

just one more thing: I guess the ship is back based on
Today at 6:49 AM

... The ship sailed on Jan 11th. ...

 

[Klon]

 

[Totoro]

another question is a railgun's sustained rate of fire

US DoD and BAE strived towards 10 rounds per minute, sustained, for their rail gun project. Have no idea if they quite achieved it, but i don't think the goal would have been set too far away from what's achievable.

As for this newest image - if only someone used that telephoto lens to take a frontal shot. Here one still can't tell for sure if the thin part of the barrel is circular or if it's like BAE's project; which could indicate if we're looking at a railgun or a coilgun.

 

[siegecrossbow]

View attachment 45196
Has this picture been posted before? Hopefully, we will hear something about the test in the coming days.

Wonder where they are going to test fire the gun. From what I've heard the ship was last spotted in Wuhan.

 

[kurutoga]

Wonder where they are going to test fire the gun. From what I've heard the ship was last spotted in Wuhan.

There is a test facility, a lake nearby. It will be too much work to drive all the way to sea, and back (if they need adjustments).

The railgun itself was tested in the desert of Inner Mongolia. Plenty of reports in the past, we just all ignored it. In the latest pic the gun looks like a final product with all the details.

 

[siegecrossbow]

There is a test facility, a lake nearby. It will be too much work to drive all the way to sea, and back (if they need adjustments).

The railgun itself was tested in the desert of Inner Mongolia. Plenty of reports in the past, we just all ignored it. In the latest pic the gun looks like a final product with all the details.

Can they properly simulate ocean conditions on a lake though? I thought that the primary reason they put it on a ship was to test how the weapon holds up against ocean swells and high wind conditions. How do they simulate that on a lake?

 

[kurutoga]

Can they properly simulate ocean conditions on a lake though? I thought that the primary reason they put it on a ship was to test how the weapon holds up against ocean swells and high wind conditions. How do they simulate that on a lake?

Absolutely. Somehow I was led to believe the latest pic shows the ship has returned to factory? Maybe the picture was taken a few weeks ago. But if it needs to run between the lake and the factory, maybe it is not at a stage to go to the ocean yet.