The National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy Technology moved quickly.
Under the arrangements of the two academicians Wang, the relevant preparations were quickly completed.
In the open outdoor test site, after several staff members completed the preliminary preparations, the huge electromagnetic railgun was slowly pushed out of the laboratory through the rails.
Naturally, it is impossible for such powerful weapons and equipment to be controlled manually. All work is handed over to a fully automated intelligent control system.
After a series of controls were completed, the remaining debugging personnel quickly evacuated the site.
"Report! The preliminary preparations for the Thor electromagnetic railgun have been completed!"
In the observation laboratory of the test site, a uniformed staff member ran over, saluted and then reported in a loud and confident voice.
Academician Wang Yong nodded, smiled and said, "Let's get started! Let Academician Xu see our results."
"yes!"
The young staff member saluted and trotted out.
In the observation room, monitoring equipment in all directions clearly displays real-time images on different monitors from all angles.
Soon, through a large screen composed of more than ten screens, Xu Chuan saw that the electromagnetic rail gun began to automatically adjust the angle and height of the barrel.
In the test site hundreds of meters away, targets of different materials were erected at different distances.
Some are stone walls made of piled stones, some are concrete walls, some are walls made of several layers of ordinary carbon steel plates stacked up, and some are walls made of special metals.
Although these targets used for testing are made of different materials, without exception, each test body is quite thick.
The largest stone wall among them can no longer even be called a wall. It would be an exaggeration to say that it is a hill made of stones.
According to the footage transmitted through the surveillance camera, the thickest stone wall is visually estimated to be at least five meters thick.
"here we go."
After standing next to Xu Chuan and staring at the monitoring screen for a while, Academician Wang Yong said softly.
Hearing this, Xu Chuan locked his eyes tightly on the monitoring screen. The most eye-catching thing on the screen was the light red indicator light on the tail side of the electromagnetic railgun barrel.
That is the indicator light that indicates that the magnetic field strength of the battery rail gun's normal temperature superconducting magnetic track has reached the emission standard.
When the strong magnetic field formed by the superconducting magnetic track reaches the set minimum emission standard, the row of indicator lights will gradually change from light red to light green.
When the strong magnetic field reaches its peak intensity, it will further transform into dark green.
"Charging is complete, the Thor's magnetic field strength is stable, and the first round of testing is about to begin."
As an intelligent report sounded in the laboratory, the light red indicator light on the tail of the electromagnetic railgun flashed and quickly jumped to light green like a revolving lantern.
Immediately, at the muzzle of the electromagnetic rail gun, a flame that looked similar to the muzzle flash when a traditional artillery was fired caught Xu Chuan's eyes.
Almost at the same time, the earth-rock wall composed of stones and a small amount of soil 500 meters away was like the earth hit by a meteorite. In an instant, the mountains collapsed and the ground cracked, and smoke and dust flew up like a sun.
The hill-like stone wall was directly hollowed out, and the scattered rubble flew in all directions at extremely high speeds. The thrilling sound of impact was transmitted back through the monitoring and detection equipment and echoed in the observation room.
"Hiss~"
Looking at the earth and stone wall that was hit by the shells fired by the electromagnetic railgun in the surveillance screen, Xu Chuan took a breath.
The stone wall, which was at least five meters thick and dozens of meters wide, had now been punched with a huge hole.
As the slowly scattered dust and foam appeared in front of everyone's eyes, the hole caused by the shell was also fully exposed.
The huge cavity is more than five meters in diameter according to visual inspection. It extends very deep inside, and some light can be vaguely seen. It seems that the entire cavity has been penetrated, and the surface of the surrounding walls made of rocks mixed with soil is even more...
Lots of cracks.
The damage caused by this cannonball is, to some extent, no less powerful than the crater and power caused by a meteorite of the same size hitting the earth.
Of course, generally speaking, meteorites with a diameter of less than one meter are almost impossible to hit the earth's surface. Most of the time, they burn up in the atmosphere.
However, pure metal projectiles fired by electromagnetic railguns will not have this problem.
Even if the muzzle velocity reaches five thousand meters per second, the metal cannonball will not melt in the air.
Coupled with the special shape of the cannonball, the shock wave formed on the surface at high speed will protect the cannonball itself to a certain extent, which means that it can completely convert the kinetic energy into damage to the greatest extent.
There is absolutely no problem in saying that it causes more damage than a meteorite of the same size, even if the speed of this cannonball cannot reach the normal speed of a meteorite.
Just when Xu Chuan was shocked by the powerful destructive capability of the electromagnetic railgun, various sensors all over the playground also transmitted data to the control room.
The first thing that caught the eyes of everyone in the control room was the number transmitted from the speed sensor installed not far from the muzzle of the 'electromagnetic rail gun'.
"4298.81m/s."
With an initial velocity of up to 4,300 meters per second, it can be said that no conventional artillery shell in the world can achieve this level.
Even if it is placed in a hypersonic missile, only a very small number of Mach 12.5 hypervelocity projectiles can achieve this.
And more importantly, this is not a shell fired by the electromagnetic railgun at full power. It has just reached the firing standard, and its power is already terrifying.
In the observation room, Zheng Hai, who came with him, stared at the experiment of the electromagnetic rail gun for a long time, with the same shocked look in his eyes.
Suddenly, he seemed to remember something, turned to look at Xu Chuan, and asked curiously: "Professor, I remember that the advantage of electromagnetic rail gun technology is that it has excellent concealment, right?"
This chapter is not over yet, please click on the next page to continue reading! After recovering from the shock, Xu Chuan nodded and said: "Well, what's wrong? Is there any problem?"
Zheng Hai: "I noticed that when the Thor was firing, the muzzle seemed to have the same muzzle flash as a conventional artillery?"
Hearing this question, Xu Chuan smiled, and just as he was about to explain, Academician Wang Yong on the side smiled and interrupted: "Let me explain this question."
After a slight pause, he stared at the monitoring screen and said, "First of all, you should have noticed that the inner cross-section of the barrel of the electromagnetic railgun we are studying is not circular like traditional artillery, but rectangular."
"But artillery shells have to fly at high speeds in the air. In order to achieve air resistance, drag-reducing shapes are usually adopted, such as streamlined shapes, jujube pit shapes, etc. The Thor's projectiles adopt a conical shape."
"But a projectile of this shape is placed between two rails, and the contact area with the rails is small. It will produce a large resistance when launched, causing energy loss."
"So in order to reduce unnecessary energy loss, we added a bullet holder to the projectile and designed the bullet holder into a rectangular shape to greatly increase the contact surface between the two rails."
"After the artillery shell is fired from the muzzle, the sabot and the projectile separate. This process is similar to the sub-caliber fin-stabilized sabot-piercing projectile launched by a tank gun."
"The electromagnetic railgun requires a huge amount of electrical energy when firing, with the current intensity exceeding one million amps. The arc generated when the projectile is discharged from the chamber creates a very high instantaneous temperature, which will vaporize part of the surface of the bullet holder with a lower melting point.
And a ball of flame-like high-temperature plasma is formed at the muzzle."
"This is the so-called flame you see. It is two completely different things from traditional artillery."
"As for concealment~"
After a pause, he looked at Zheng Hai and said with a smile, "You don't have to worry about this at all."
"The muzzle flames can be weakened in some ways, and the sound... did you hear any obvious sound when the Thor happened just now?"
Hearing this question, Zheng Hai was stunned and quickly recalled it in his mind.
It seems that when the Thor was launched, he did not hear any obvious sound?
...
Rounds of destructive experiments are also ongoing, and various detection equipment and sensors installed on the test site transmit back different indicator data.
[Exit speed: 4298.81m/s.]
[Hit speed: 4294.35m/s.]
[Rock target damage level: 7.26]
[Concrete target damage degree: 6.98]
[Degree of damage to carbon steel target:...]
【......】
[500-meter shooting accuracy index: 99.9999....]
[1,000-meter shooting accuracy index:...]
【......】
【Beyond Shooting Index....】
Different pieces of data are reported by various sensors or manually, and are presented to everyone in the control room.
These indicators and data are self-determined by domestic weapons experts through consultation. They are internal communication data and can more accurately reflect the power and data of the electromagnetic railgun. (I made up the data randomly)
As a new 'electromagnetic weapon', its judgment standards are definitely different from conventional artillery shells.
Of course, the testing method of 'electromagnetic weapons' is definitely different from the testing process of ordinary guns.
Inspections such as ordinary operation endurance tests, anti-fouling tests, harsh environment tests, etc. will definitely not be done for the time being.
However, some basic data such as the initial velocity of the projectile, destructive power, and shooting accuracy can still be collected immediately.
In addition, electromagnetic interference tests that are not conducted on ordinary artillery shells and missiles, or are rarely conducted, are the focus of testing on electromagnetic railguns.
...
Looking at the data transmitted back in real time, Xu Chuan's eyes were full of interest.
The electromagnetic railgun jointly developed by the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences was even better than he expected.
Although he didn't know much about weapons, the experimental data generated by the test was enough to help him understand the power of this weapon from another aspect.
Standing behind Xu Chuan, Zheng Hai, who came with him, stared at the images fed back in real time on the monitoring screen, with deep shock in his eyes.
As a soldier who came from that place, I'm afraid no one will have more exposure to cutting-edge equipment than him.
It is no exaggeration to say that as long as domestic weapons and equipment or other military equipment are purchased by the military, they are basically the first batch of personnel to test and use them.
However, even though he had seen countless weapons and equipment, he was still shocked by the huge lethality of the electromagnetic rail gun in front of him.
At a distance of 500 meters, a conventional carbon steel plate of more than 70 centimeters, or 700mm in military terms, was like paper in front of it, and was easily penetrated by pure metal shells.
Its power is so terrifying that it is simply unimaginable.
Perhaps many people may think that this data does not seem to be very good. A fifty centimeter thick steel plate is a matter of course for a super killer weapon such as an electromagnetic rail gun.
Moreover, this level of armor destruction can be easily achieved by many missiles.
For example, the "Javelin" anti-tank missile produced by Lockheed Martin Company, the armor-piercing capability of early models can reach 750 mm of homogeneous armor, while the penetration capability of later models has reached more than 1,100 mm.
There is also the domestically produced heavy-duty vehicle-mounted anti-tank missile Hongjian No. 10, which is also my country's fourth-generation anti-tank missile with a maximum armor-piercing capability of up to 1,600 mm.
As well as the latest improved version at last year's arms show, the Red Arrow 10 series anti-tank missiles, which are said to have a diameter of 1800 mm and can penetrate the frontal armor of various main battle tanks in the world, etc.
Compared with the 500 mm armor-piercing ability of the electromagnetic rail gun, the lethality of these anti-tank missiles is much better.
This chapter is not finished yet, please click on the next page to continue reading the exciting content! But an excellent evaluation of a weapon does not come from simply seeing through the armor.
In addition to its lethality, the most important thing is its price!
The "Javelin" anti-tank missile produced by Lockheed Martin is sold for about 300,000 meters per piece, and does not include the launcher, which is the pure missile body.
The price of the Red Arrow 10 series anti-tank missiles at the arms show was also as high as nearly 4 million.
Although in modern warfare, anti-tank/anti-armor is one of the most important tasks of the land and air forces of various countries, such expensive anti-tank missiles cannot be afforded by any country.
And even if the selling price is put aside, in terms of cost, the cost of anti-tank missiles is usually not that cheap.
The cost of the "Javelin" anti-tank missile produced by Lockheed Martin has exceeded 100,000 yuan, and the cost of the Red Arrow 10 series anti-tank missile is as high as 1.6 million RMB.
Although it is absolutely cost-effective to exchange an anti-tank missile of this cost for a tank costing millions of meters of gold, or a more expensive military helicopter.
But in comparison, electromagnetic railgun shells are incredibly cheap.
A pure metal artillery shell, even if it is made of the relatively expensive tungsten-chromium alloy material, and its special shape is included, its price is only a few hundred yuan.
And it is extremely simple to make. Even an ordinary small and medium-sized steel factory or even a family workshop can make it by hand.
If we put aside the turret of the electromagnetic railgun, this is more than just an explosion on the head of a traditional armor-piercing missile.
Of course, the manufacturing of the electromagnetic railgun itself is extremely difficult, and the technical content and cost cannot be ignored.
In addition, there is also the disadvantage that pure metal artillery shells cannot be guided as accurately as traditional missiles.
This problem is no small problem in today's modern cross-horizon warfare.
But compared with its advantages, these can be compensated.
The extremely low cost of pure metal artillery shells means that they can be industrialized and mass-produced through assembly lines.
The ultra-high flight speed means that it is almost impossible to intercept, and it also means extremely terrifying destructive power and lethality.
The intelligent AI-controlled weapon system means that its reaction speed can be extremely fast, and it can effectively annihilate enemies from any direction in short- and medium-range combat.
More importantly, as long as sufficient energy is provided, the electromagnetic railgun can complete the charging and launching process in just over ten seconds.
This means that it has an extremely high rate of fire that cannot be compared with traditional artillery. It also means that it can fire multiple rounds in a short period of time, and has very powerful strike capabilities and quick response capabilities.
These are advantages that traditional artillery cannot match.
In comparison, those shortcomings are acceptable enough.