In the 19th century, the British scientist Faraday discovered Faraday's law of electromagnetic induction, which states that charges and currents in a magnetic field will be affected by the Lorentz force, that is, a wire located in a magnetic field will experience a force when it is energized. At the same time, if the wire is allowed to move in a magnetic field to cut the magnetic lines of force, current will also be generated on the wire.
At the beginning of the 20th century, someone proposed the idea of ??using the Lorentz force to launch cannonballs. During the two world wars, France, Germany and Japan all studied electromagnetic guns. After World War II, other countries also conducted research in this area. In 1845, Charles Wheatstone built the world's first reluctance DC motor and used it to throw a metal rod 20 meters away. After that, the German mathematician Kirby proposed the idea of ??using electromagnetic propulsion method to manufacture electric cannons.
The first person to formally propose the concept of electromagnetic launch/electromagnetic gun and conduct experiments was Birkeland, a physics professor at the University of Oslo in Norway. He patented the electric artillery gun in 1901. In 1920, France's Fortune Villepleur published the article "Electric Artillery". At almost the same time, the Electric Gun Company in Philadelphia, USA, developed an electromagnetic accelerator for artillery. During World War II, stimulated by military needs, both Germany and Japan developed electromagnetic guns. Hensley of Germany once accelerated a 10-gram projectile to a muzzle velocity of 1.2 kilometers/second with an electromagnetic gun.
In the early 1970s, the Australian National University built the first electromagnetic launch device, which accelerated a 3-gram plastic block (cannonball) to a speed of 6,000 meters/second. Since then, Australian and American scientists have manufactured different types of experimental prototypes and conducted many launch experiments. An electromagnetic gun powered by a unipolar generator can accelerate a 318-gram projectile to a speed of 4,200 meters per second. The magnetic flux compression electromagnetic gun can accelerate a 2-gram projectile to a speed of 11,000 meters per second.
In the 1970s, Dr. Charles Marshall of the Australian National University used new technology to accelerate a 3-gram projectile to 5.9 kilometers/second. This achievement experimentally proves that it is feasible to use electromagnetic force to propel objects to ultra-high speeds. After the experimental results were announced in 1978, it attracted special attention from the military of various countries. The U.S. Defense Council concluded that future high-performance weapons must be based on electric energy. The U.S. Department of Defense established the Joint Electromagnetic Gun Committee to coordinate the decentralized electromagnetic gun research work among the military, the Department of Energy, the Defense Atomic Energy Agency and the Strategic Defense Initiative.
In 1980, the experimental electromagnetic gun built by the American Westinghouse Company for "Star Wars" accelerated a projectile with a mass of 300 grams to about 4 kilometers per second. In a vacuum, this speed can be increased to 8~10 kilometers per second.
In 1992, the United States had pushed a prototype electromagnetic gun with a diameter of 90 mm and a muzzle kinetic energy of 9 megajoules to the Yuma shooting range for testing. The electromagnetic gun's journey from the laboratory to the shooting range shows that power supply miniaturization technology has made a breakthrough. United States
The electromagnetic gun was once a key project of the United States' "Star Wars" arms program during the Cold War era and was regarded as a secret weapon against nuclear bombs. The U.S. Navy restarted electromagnetic gun research in 2005 and had invested US$211 million as of 2010.
On December 6, 2010, General Atomics announced that the Blitzer anti-aircraft electromagnetic railgun prototype developed by the company had been successfully tested at the U.S. Army's Dugway Proving Ground in September. Aerodynamic projectile. The test, conducted under contract with the Office of Naval Research, successfully demonstrated the integration and capabilities of a tactically valuable electromagnetic rail launcher, pulsed power system and projectile. The projectile used in the test was developed by Boeing, with a flight speed of Mach 5 and a flight acceleration of 60,000g. The test also demonstrated armature separation and stable flight.
On December 12, 2010, the electromagnetic railgun developed by the United States was tested by the Navy. The electromagnetic railgun hit a target 200 kilometers away at a top speed of 5 times the speed of sound. The range was 10 times that of the Navy’s conventional weapons. . The U.S. military aims to conduct actual testing at sea within eight years and formally equip it on warships by 2025. The experiment was conducted at the Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia, and the electromagnetic gun was tested twice. The electromagnetic gun is mainly composed of two tracks. The gun body is mounted on a rectangular barrel the size of a trailer, and an aluminum 20-pound shell is placed in the middle of the track. After the electromagnetic gun is connected to the power supply, the current will pass through the two tracks, thereby generating a strong thrust and ejecting the aluminum bullet at high speed.
The energy generated by the two test launches reached 33 megajoules and 32 megajoules respectively, breaking the record of 10 megajoules set in 2008. 1 megajoule of energy is equivalent to a 1 ton car traveling at a speed of 160 kilometers per hour.
In addition to its power, the range of projectiles fired at 33 megajoules is 10 times farther than current conventional weapons, which is also a major advantage of the electromagnetic gun. However, the final actual combat equipment target of the US military is a 64-megajoule electromagnetic gun with a range of up to 321 kilometers, allowing warships to launch attacks beyond the range of enemy ships.
Karl, Director of the Naval Research Institute, said that the electromagnetic gun has many advantages. First of all, it has a fast rate of fire and does not cause problems such as target removal or miss like cruise missiles. It can also be used with the Global Positioning System (GPS). Further improve accuracy. In addition, since the electromagnetic gun does not require gunpowder, it can not only improve crew safety, but also increase the number of artillery shells carried by warships by 10 times.
On January 15, 2014, Rear Admiral Matthew Kurund, head of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, said that the project has completed the first phase (prototype development phase) and has developed two sets of industrial aircraft. The electromagnetic railgun system prototype, the project has entered the second phase, and the navy and industry will test multiple launches within one minute. Kurund is confident in the results of the upcoming 8-fire test of the rail gun at the White Sands Range.
On April 10, 2014, the U.S. Navy stated that it would launch an electromagnetic gun sea test launch plan, using electromagnetism to launch high-speed light projectiles seven times the speed of sound. This type of electromagnetic gun has been extensively tested on the ground and will be installed on the USS Millinocket, a fast ship of the US Navy, and will be tested at sea in 2016.
Rear Admiral Klonde, director of the U.S. Naval Research Department, revealed at a military science and technology roundtable, "This is real, not science fiction. You can see it launch with your own eyes." Klonde will be in It was stated at the Sea, Air and Aerospace Science and Technology Expo held near Washington that the electromagnetic gun will help strengthen the United States' air defense, cruise missile defense and ballistic missile defense, and also has the advantage of low cost.
China
The "Jianshi Defense Weekly" published on November 20, 2013 reported that satellite images showed a so-called armor equipment and artillery testing center in the northwest of Baotou City, China. , there are two artillery pieces, they are about 26 meters and 33.5 meters long respectively. The two super artillery are each fixed on a concrete base. This concrete base appeared between September 2010 and December 2012. At that time Satellite images captured the two artillery pieces for the first time.
The latest satellite photos show that the two artillery pieces were still in place in July 2013. In satellite photography taken in 2011, there is a series of objects that appear to be targets in front of the larger so-called artillery. The report speculates that this shows that the penetration test of high-speed artillery shells is being carried out there.