How powerful is the 2000mm electromagnetic railgun?

A set of numbers illustrates the problem very visually. Pen & Fun & Pavilion www.biquge.info

In the case of unloaded gunpowder, after the consumption of atmospheric friction, the terminal kinetic energy of the old era 155mm howitzer is about 15 megajoules, and if it hits the tank directly, it can kill any model in an instant.

One megajoule is equivalent to the kinetic energy of a one-ton car racing at 160 kilometers per hour, and the explosive yield of one ton of t-n-t is 4,190 megajoules.

The kinetic energy of the metal high-explosive projectile fired by the 210mm Gauss cannon held by the "Storm" No. 4 is 0.15 terjoules (1 terajoule = 1 megajoule), which is equivalent to 10,000 times that of the old 155mm howitzer, and it can also be said to be a 36-ton t-n-t explosion yield, which can directly destroy the bow main gun port or stern engine vent of the battleship.

The kinetic energy of the 2000mm electromagnetic railgun without dead angle reached 30 terjoules, that is, 7200 tons of t-n-t explosive yield. This is almost half the power of the Hiroshima atomic bomb "Little Boy", which is enough to wipe out a city. Not to mention a battleship, even if it is used to attack Space City, it will be sunk with one shot.

In comparison, the 2000mm particle beam main gun of the new America-class mothership has an energy of only 5 terjoules, which is just enough to penetrate the R-particle shield of a capital ship and sink it by the way. So don't look at the so-called 2000mm caliber cannons, kinetic energy weapons are a whole grade stronger than pure energy weapons.

Immediately after the "Tempest" withdrew from the curvature flight state, the L4 base immediately sounded the alarm of first-level combat readiness. Although there is no news of the "Tempest" entering the new American galaxy again from the M320 star field, it is located in the orbit of the first planet, and the position of L4 is a no-fly zone over M320, and no ship is allowed to enter this area by mistake under any pretext.

Air traffic control is one of the most stringent laws of this era, and it is a dead line that must not be stepped on, and it is a dead line that must not be stepped on. Even if it is just a misoperation, the relevant personnel on the ship, including the captain, navigator, and pilot, must be sentenced and convicted, and there is absolutely no possibility of extrajudicial connivance.

In the past few decades, there have been two or three types of ships that have dared to sail in violation of the ban -- pirate ships, smuggling ships, and enemy warships. Smuggling ships can't come here, and there are no pirates in the New American system, so the only thing that can be an enemy is the mysterious warship that suddenly appears next to the L4 base.

At the same time as the first level of combat readiness was released, one of the tracks of the 2000mm electromagnetic railgun with no dead angle lit up, lingering with a blue arc light, as if bringing two blue halos with two meters apart to this semi-finished fortress.

Although the personnel on the bridge of the "Tempest" had seen such a scene for the first time, they could also guess that the other party was ready to use electromagnetic railguns. For a normal finished fortress, the railgun's track is buried under the armor plate, and the charging process is not visible to the naked eye at all. Only when the corresponding flap is about to be fired is opened to form a temporary shell launch.

Normally, because the orbit is hidden under the armor plate, the charging and aiming process of the electromagnetic railgun is invisible to the outside world, and there is no dodge. Especially during the fleet battle, the enemy has dozens of warships, and no one knows who the attack of the fortress electromagnetic railgun is heading towards, basically one cannon and one accurate.

But now there is only the only intruder in this airspace, the "Tempest", and the charging and aiming process of the electromagnetic railgun is completely exposed under the nose, with the ability of the Awakened crew of this battleship, it is really not scared. At this time, seeing that the opponent began to charge and aim, the drivers with the ability to "accelerate" were all in position, ready to perform an evasive maneuver.

It takes at least a minute for the 2000mm level of electromagnetic railgun to be charged at a time, and during this time, the huge orbital ring with a diameter of 10 kilometers begins to rotate and calibrate, forming an angle in the same plane as the "Tempest". As long as it is fully charged, the projectile will shoot at a tangential angle and will reach a speed of more than 3,000 km/s, which is not inferior to particle beam weapons.

The so-called charging of the electromagnetic railgun is actually to electrify the track, and then use electromagnetic force to accelerate the metal cannonball, which is somewhat similar to the Gauss gun. Although they are both weapons that convert electrical energy into kinetic energy like the Gauss Cannon, the principle of the two is completely different.

The Gauss gun relies on the Lorentz force to accelerate the charged metal projectile, while the electromagnetic railgun directly makes the projectile and the two tracks form an electrified loop, and uses the current to generate electromagnetic force through the projectile to propel.

Both kinetic weapons have their own advantages and disadvantages.

What determines the output energy of the Gaussian cannon is the strength of the electric field, that is, the length, diameter, current intensity and other factors of the energized solenoid. The Lorentz force itself is considered a weak force and cannot support a large-mass projectile, even if the Gauss cannon is made larger, it will increase the projectile velocity, but it cannot support a large-caliber projectile.

Take the 210mm Gauss cannon in the "Storm" No. 4 operator as an example, although its metal projectile has a diameter of 200mm, it is actually a hollow metal ball with an internal charge, and the weight is very light, almost one thousandth of a solid iron ball. If the weight of the metal projectile of the Gauss cannon is too heavy, it is not the projectile that is finally fired by the energized solenoid, but the charges attached to the projectile.

However, compared with the electromagnetic railgun, the advantage of the Gauss gun is that it accelerates quickly. With the scientific and technological power of this era, in an energized solenoid with a length of only a few meters, it is possible to speed up a metal projectile to more than 1,500 km/s. Basically, the moment you pull the trigger, you can fire a shot. Even if the 210mm Gauss cannon takes 10 seconds to shoot a shot, it is much faster than the electromagnetic railgun.

The electromagnetic railgun, on the other hand, has a slower acceleration and requires the metal projectile to accelerate in circles around the track non-stop, and it takes more time to reach the same speed.

However, the electromagnetic force is a strong force, ranking second among the four basics, second only to the nuclear force inside the atom in the microscopic world. Therefore, there is no limit to the caliber of metal projectiles that can be fired by the electromagnetic railgun, but the greater the weight, the longer the acceleration time required.

It is for this reason that kinetic weapons in the space age are polarized according to different calibers, and Gauss guns are used for those below 210mm caliber, such as the side turrets of battleships, which are used to attack mobile suits and small aircraft. The large-caliber fortress guns all use electromagnetic railguns, so that they can have enough kinetic energy to sink the battleship with one shot.

At this time, the track that was being charged quickly aligned with the direction of the "Tempest", but the charging was still not complete.

Initially, the Awakened on the bridge were able to see the blue dots of light of the 2000mm metal cannonball when it was energized. As the speed of the cannonball continues to increase, the frame rate of the optical sensor can no longer catch up with the other party, and the displayed one becomes the third blue light band.

At this time, it was visually estimated that the L4 base was about to open fire, and Luo Yunxi hurriedly ordered the "Storm" to start an irregular swinging maneuver, increasing the difficulty of aiming at the opposite side.

At the same time, all 8 Mobile Suits have completed their ejection and are flying towards the L4 base away from the "Tempest" to avoid being given a pot by the 2000mm electromagnetic railgun.

The lethality of the fragments produced by the explosion of metal projectiles of this caliber on surrounding ships and mobile suits should not be underestimated, and the range of splash damage reaches more than 1,000 kilometers. There have been cases where a single shell sank two warships, one of which was sunk by a fragmentation sputter.

Of course, Fengyu did not think that the electromagnetic railgun at the L4 base could hit the "Storm", and the reason why he was far away from this battleship was actually to facilitate it to make evasive actions.

When both sides were ready, and the minute had passed, a metal projectile still wrapped around the blue arc suddenly flew out along the tangential direction of the track, flying straight towards the "Tempest".