Building a Bigger Bomb

[Hector]

Have you seen the Russian 'delivery systems'?

They have aircraft with propellers for chrissake!

We're all doomed, yeah, right!

[bwv 1080]

As bomb technology advances, these devices will become increasingly potent while decreasing in size......... perhaps someday being of a very manageable size ........ At which point, whichever country strikes first will win the prize .......  Isn't life wonderful .........

No, these bombs cannot really be shrunk. The principle is that a fine powder is spread over an area and ignited - similar to how explosions in a grain elevator happen or if you ever used to set packages of coffee creamer on fire.  The explosive power is proportional to the volume of material ejected - this bomb is powerful because it contains alot of material

http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/dumb/fae.htm

[head-case]

They have aircraft with propellers for chrissake!

So does the US.

[BachQ]

*** or if you ever used to set packages of coffee creamer on fire ***

Ahhhh yes, I recall those days with the fondest of memories ........

[Kullervo]

[huge flames]

The Towering Inferno?

[Bonehelm]

Oh Noes Looks Like We Are All Going to Die In A Future World War

[BachQ]

Navy Tests High-Powered Electromagnetic Railgun
Thursday, January 31, 2008



DAHLGREN, Va. —  A futuristic weapon getting a trial run by the Navy demonstrated its destructive power at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

In the demonstration Thursday, engineers fired the electromagnetic railgun at what they said was a record power level: 10 megajoules.

The previous railgun power-use record was about 9 megajoules of muzzle energy.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy to launch projectiles long distances — more than 200 nautical miles.

Because the railgun uses electricity and not gunpowder to fire projectiles, it eliminates the possibility of explosions on ships.

The Navy hopes the railgun will eventually replace the standard 5-inch gun on its ships. The weapon isn't expected to be deployed until at least 2020.

[A joule is defined as the energy needed to produce one watt of electricity for one second.

The railgun tested Thursday actually has a capacity of 32 megajoules, but the Navy is slowly building up the energy level in a series of tests.

That's a lot of power, but with a new series of electrically-powered ships coming on line, the Navy figures generating capacity will not be a problem.

According to the Navy, the railgun, when fully developed, will be able to launch solid projectiles at Mach 5, or about 3,700 mph.]

[MN Dave]

How much will one cost me?

[BachQ]

Q: What is a rail gun?

A: Rail guns have long been seen as a "Holy Grail" of naval weapons, as the technology promises hypersonic launch velocities without the use of conventional propellants.  Instead of propellants, the output of the ship's power plant may be shunted into a large capacitive device, storing high levels of energy, which are released short bursts as the gun fires.  Alternatively, a grouping of compensated pulsed alternators capable of delivering a momentary high spike of energy may be used.  The latter approach appears to have the advantages of smaller footprints, inherent graceful degradation should one or more alternators fail, and lower total system weight.
A Rail Gun operates by making use of the Lorentz force created on a moving armature.  The gun consists of two parallel rails electrically connected via an armature which holds the projectile.  Current from the power source is sent down one rail, across the armature, and then down through the other rail back to the power source.  This current flow creates a magnetic field around the armature, generating a propulsive force which slides it down the rails.

With large currents, railguns have the ability to produce great accelerations and thus high muzzle velocities, without the hazards of chemical explosive charges used in conventional guns.  This reduces the vulnerability of the ship to damage, as there are no magazines, only shell rooms, and the shells themselves may not contain a burster.  The hypersonic velocities generated give the projectiles large kinetic energies, long range, and short flight times.

BAE Systems is currently under contract to deliver a 32 megajoule lab launcher in June 2007 to the Office of Naval Research (ONR) Electromagnetic Launch Facility, located in Virginia at the Naval Surface Warfare Center's Dahlgren Division Laboratory.  However, difficulty in procuring a sufficient number of the high energy capacitors needed to power the launcher will push back the first test shots to FY2009.

The following datapage is constructed from public materials released by the US Navy concerning a "Notional Railgun for Destroyers" with a bore of 150 mm (5.9").  In this Notional Railgun design, the projectile is encased within a sabot which provides a means of putting an aerodynamically shaped projectile into a rectangular gun barrel.  The sabot together with the propelling armature is discarded after the assembly clears the muzzle.



Proposed Rail Gun Operation
An interesting tidbit about this image is that it shows that the projectile does not "turn over" at apogee.  This is because the projectile is above sensible atmosphere and therefore has little or no atmospheric force acting upon it.  It is not until the projectile is on its downward arc that it enters atmosphere thick enough to make the fins "bite" and thus move it to the point-down attitude.


From: www.navweaps.com

[paulb]

al qaeda, most of the members are dirt poor, really alugh at this nonsense of high tech.
yeah the "smart" bombs do harm, al qaeda admits, but like for everyone one islamic a  bomb kills, there are 10 muslims waiting in the wing to replaace.
The islamics have a   limitless supply of fresh recruits. There are like 2 billion islamics world wide and at least 10% of that number would gladly die in the war against the west. Its a  way to geta   free ticket to heaven.

sure al qaeda has funds from wealthy oil barons, but that money is only to be used for war purposes. its not like they can get their hands on it and take a  nice vacation in the bahamas.
unlike the protestant evangelicals which use their religious funds for livinga   wealthy, lavish  life style, the islamics put theirs to only one specific use, to destroy the west.

[BachQ]

There are like 2 billion islamics world wide and at least 10% of that number would gladly die in the war against the west.

You're close ....... total Islam/Muslim Population in 2007  is 1.61  billion

[bwv 1080]

The upside would seem to be that they could potentially launch satellites and other objects into orbit

[Lethevich]

The upside would seem to be that they could potentially launch satellites and other objects into orbit

Indeedie. Most peoples problems with the idea of nuclear waste being launched into space were the unacceptable chance of the rocket exploding, but this technology could provide a potentially 100% reliable launching system. (Just a random nutcases absurd theory, pay no heed )

[MishaK]

You're close ....... total Islam/Muslim Population in 2007  is 1.61  billion

...and it would be a stretch to claim that each and every one of them...

would gladly die in the war against the west. Its a  way to geta   free ticket to heaven.

Such moronic, ignorant, prejudiced xenophobia.

Indeedie. Most peoples problems with the idea of nuclear waste being launched into space were the unacceptable chance of the rocket exploding, but this technology could provide a potentially 100% reliable launching system. (Just a random nutcases absurd theory, pay no heed )

Nothing is 100% reliable. You could still have some malfunction that slows down the projectile after it is launched (insufficient charge, damage or blockage in the apparatus, operator error, etc.) that could still cause the projectile to impact on earth. And you still have to transport the waste from where it was spent to where it's being launched.

[Lethevich]

Nothing is 100% reliable. You could still have some malfunction that slows down the projectile after it is launched (insufficient charge, damage or blockage in the apparatus, operator error, etc.) that could still cause the projectile to impact on earth. And you still have to transport the waste from where it was spent to where it's being launched.

I should've added a note to that ("very near") - certainly 100% reliability is impossible, but it could reach an acceptability level in which the risk is tolerated - plus further failsafes could be factored in (such as the launch site, the casing of the projectile, etc). It's not something that would happen when the technology was in its infancy (or possibly at all).

[paulb]

I said 10% of the whole islamic popualtion would gladly give their life to Allah's cause.
I did not say all 100% of the islamics were such idiots.

btw I've realized those who  cry xenophobic are the ones who eally have this scourge within their own souls, called projection.
Go look ye in the mirror some day and say xenophobe. may do you some good.

[paulb]

You're close ....... total Islam/Muslim Population in 2007  is 1.61  billion

But in say 10 yrs? 2 billion.

[Lethevich]

btw I've realized those who  cry xenophobic are the ones who eally have this scourge within their own souls, called projection.
Go look ye in the mirror some day and say xenophobe. may do you some good.

Paul! You may as well just say "I know you are, but what am I?"

[BachQ]

Separately ........

Beam weapons almost ready for battle
Directed energy could revolutionize warfare, expert says



LOS ALAMOS, N.M.  - There is a new breed of weaponry fast approaching — and at the speed of light, no less. They are labeled "directed-energy weapons," and they may well signal a revolution in military hardware — perhaps more so than the atomic bomb.

Directed-energy weapons take the form of lasers, high-powered microwaves and particle beams. Their adoption for ground, air, sea, and space warfare depends not only on using the electromagnetic spectrum, but also upon favorable political and budgetary wavelengths too.

That's the outlook of J. Douglas Beason, author of the recently published book "The E-Bomb: How America's New Directed Energy Weapons Will Change the Way Wars Will Be Fought in the Future." Beason previously served on the White House staff working for the president's science adviser under both the Bush and Clinton administrations.

After more than two decades of research, the United States is on the verge of deploying a new generation of weapons that discharge beams of energy, such as the Airborne Laser and the Active Denial System, as well as the Tactical High Energy Laser, or THEL.

Ripe for transformation?

Though considerable work has been done in lasers, high-power microwaves and other directed-energy technologies, weaponization is still an ongoing process.  For example, work is continuing in the military's Airborne Laser program. It utilizes a megawatt-class, high-energy chemical oxygen iodine laser toted skyward aboard a modified Boeing 747-400 aircraft. Purpose of the program is to enable the detection, tracking and destruction of ballistic missiles in the boost phase, or powered part of their flight.

Similarly, testing of the U.S. Army's Tactical High Energy Laser in White Sands, N.M., has shown the ability of heating high-flying rocket warheads, blasting them with enough energy to make them self-detonate. THEL uses a high-energy, deuterium fluoride chemical laser. A mobile THEL also demonstrated the ability to kill multiple mortar rounds.

Then there's Active Denial Technology — a non-lethal way to use millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary. This technology, supported by the U.S. Marines, uses a beam of millimeter waves to heat a foe's skin, causing severe pain without damage, and making the adversary flee the scene.


Unknown unknowns

In Beason's view, Active Denial Technology, the Airborne Laser program and the THEL project, as well as supporting technologies such as relay mirrors, are all works in progress that give reason for added support and priority funding.

"I truly believe that as the Airborne Laser goes, so goes the rest of the nation's directed-energy programs. Right now, it's working on the margin. I believe that there are still 'unknown unknowns' out there that are going to occur in science and technology. We think we have the physics defined. We think we have the engineering defined. But something always goes wrong ... and we're working too close at the margin," Beason said.

Stepwise demonstration programs that spotlight directed-energy weapon systems are needed, Beason noted. Such in-the-field displays could show off greater beam distance-to-target runs, mobility of hardware, ease-of-operation, battlefield utility and other attributes.

Directed-energy technologies can offer a range of applications, from botching up an enemy's electronics to performing "dial-up" destructive strikes at the speed of light with little or no collateral damage.

Beason said he has a blue-sky idea of his own, which he tags "the voice from heaven." By tuning the resonance of a laser onto Earth's ionosphere, you can create audible frequencies. Like some boom box in the sky, the laser-produced voice could bellow from above down to the target below: "Put down your weapons."

Relay mirrors

Regarding use of directed-energy space weapons, Beason advised that "we'll eventually see it."  *** Beason said he expected to see the rise of more efficient lasers — especially solid-state laser systems. "What breakthroughs are needed ... I'm not sure. Eventually, I think it's going to happen, but it is going to be a generation after the battlefield lasers." ***

History lesson

Late last year, speaking before the Heritage Foundation in Washington, Beason told his audience that laser energy, the power sources and beam control, as well as knowledge about how laser beams interact with Earth's atmosphere, are quite mature technologies that are ready for the shift into front-line warfare status.

"The good news is that directed energy exists. Directed energy is being tested, and within a few years directed energy is going to be deployed upon the battlefield," Beason reported. "But the bad news is that acquisition policies right now in this nation are one more gear toward evolutionary practices rather than revolutionary practices."

"Visionaries win wars ... and not bureaucrats. We've seen this through history," Beason observed.

© 2007 Space.com. All rights reserved. More from Space.com.
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10805240/

[bwv 1080]

I should've added a note to that ("very near") - certainly 100% reliability is impossible, but it could reach an acceptability level in which the risk is tolerated - plus further failsafes could be factored in (such as the launch site, the casing of the projectile, etc). It's not something that would happen when the technology was in its infancy (or possibly at all).

Naah, just use it to build one of these:

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/solar_power_sats_011017-1.html