The US Navy is gearing to take its futuristic Railgun out of the lab where it has been tested for to past eight years. In the next biennium, these mighty weapons will be tested in open firing ranges and eventually at sea, where the futuristic electromagnetic gun will be able to demonstrate its full capacity to fire projectiles at targets 50-100 nautical miles (92 – 185 kilometers) away.
“The Electromagnetic Railgun is among several disruptive capabilities that the Naval Research Enterprise is championing to ensure a dominant, capable and relevant naval force for the future.” Chief of Naval Research (CNR) Rear Adm. Mat Winter said.
A railgun weapon system includes the launcher, projectile; high-density pulsed power, and fire control system. A railgun weapon can launch multi-mission projectiles with shorter time-to-target and greater effectiveness at longer range.
The Navy is evaluating two EM Railgun models. A 32-megajoule prototype built by BAE Systems and the 32 megajoule Blitzer developed by General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS). The company has also developed a 3-megajoule railgun variant. In the future, the Navy plans to deploy railguns rated to 64-megajoule.
General Atomics (GA) told IHS Jane's that it will have committed significant company funds to develop its 10 megajoule (MJ) Multimission Medium Range Railgun Weapon System (MMRRWS) from 2007 to the end of testing in 2017.
Speaking to IHS Jane's at the Navy League's 2016 Sea-Air-Space symposium in mid-May, company officials said that GA had committed funds in excess of USD50 million, but declined to be exact.
General Atomics, whose MQ-1 Predator changed the world, is to start testing another potentially revolutionary weapon next month: a 150-kilowatt class laser.
Several other companies are developing laser weapons and “we’re looking at all of them,” said Lt. Gen. Bradley Heithold, head of Air Force Special Operations Command, in an interview with Breaking Defense. “The technology is ripe for application on an AC-130.”
General Atomics hopes to see AFSOC install a version of the weapon on the AC-130 gunship in the next few years. They also envision equipping the company’s new jet-powered Predator C Avenger drone with a laser derived from their High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS).
France has ordered a third batch of Reaper unmanned aerial vehicles, with delivery in 2019 of three UAVs and two ground stations in the advanced block 5 version, a spokesman for the procurement office said Friday.
"The Direction Générale de l’Armement ordered Dec. 7 2015 the third batch of Reaper medium-altitude long-endurance drones,” the DGA said in a Dec. 10 statement. The delivery is due in early 2019.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems has introduced a new sonobuoy capability for its MQ-9 Guardian maritime unmanned air vehicle which, alongside a number of other developing technologies, could make it a contender to help fill the UK’s maritime patrol gap.
A concept was presented at the Royal Navy’s maritime awareness conference at RNAS Culdrose in Cornwall on 24 September, which showed a number of sonobuoys being released from a bay on the UAV.
While a requirement for a maritime patrol aircraft (MPA) acquisition has yet to be released from the UK government, the developments that General Atomics is incorporating into the MQ-9 suggests that it will look to offer a modified Guardian to complement a manned MPA that is expected to be procured.
The new sonobuoy capability has been developed alongside Ultra Electronics over two years, Jonny King, director for General Atomics’ UK division, says.
“What we’re really looking at is a Predator B carrying sonobuoys, controlling them, and sending sonobuoy information back to the ground station over a SATCOM link,” King says.
Flying military robots armed with high-energy lasers? It’s a future that is exciting, terrifying — and perhaps just two years away.
General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc., or GA-ASI, the San Diego-based company that makes the Predator and Reaper drones, is undertaking a privately funded study to integrate a 150-kilowatt solid-state laser onto its Avenger (née Predator-C) drone. If the company succeeds, a drone with a high-energy laser will be a reality at some point in 2017, company executives told Defense One.
“We’re funded right now to develop a laser module compatible with the aircraft and study putting it on the Avenger,” Michael Perry, Vice President for Mission Systems at GA-ASI, told Defense One. “We hope to be funded to do that,” he said.
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) announced [June 22] that projectiles with on-board electronics survived the railgun launch environment and performed their intended functions in four consecutive tests on 9-10 June at the U.S. Army’s Dugway Proving Ground in Utah. The week of test activity included marking the 100th successful launch from the GA-EMS’ 3 megajoule Blitzer® electromagnetic railgun.
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During the week of testing, the electronics on-board the projectiles successfully measured in-bore accelerations and projectile dynamics, for several kilometers downrange, with the integral data link continuing to operate after the projectiles impacted the desert floor. On-board measurement of flight dynamics is essential for precision guidance. The test projectiles were launched at accelerations over 30,000 times that of gravity and were exposed to the full electromagnetic environment of the railgun launch.
The Gen 3 High Energy Laser System (HEL) from General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. completed beam quality and power measurements of G using the Joint Technology Office (JTO) Government Diagnostic System (GDS). The testing was performed by an independent measurement team under contract to the U.S. Government.
The new laser is representative of the third generation of technology first developed under the High Energy Liquid Laser Area Defense System (HELLADS, Gen 1) program. This Gen 3 Laser has a number of upgrades that provide improved beam quality, increased electrical to optical efficiency, and reduced size and weight. The recently certified Gen 3 laser assembly is small at only 1.3 x 0.4 x 0.5 meters. The system itself is powered by a compact Lithium-ion battery supply created to demonstrate a deployable architecture for tactical platforms.
GA-ASI is looking to use the laser weapon module in the Predator C Avenger for deployment by 2018.
The Gen 3 HEL tested is a unit cell for the Tactical Laser Weapon Module (TLWM) that is currently under development. The TLWM is built for use on land, sea, and airborne platforms and will be available in four versions at the 50, 75, 150, and 300 kilowatt laser output levels.
General Atomics (GA) has completed laboratory tests of what it calls its “third-generation laser system,” saying that the weapon sets new standards in efficiency, beam quality and system weight. According to an industry source, the company says the new laser will deliver 150 kw of energy, with three times higher beam quality than the Laser Weapon System (LaWS) now being tested by the U.S. Navy on the amphibious warfare ship Ponce...
Kazakhstan has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with US unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) manufacturer General Atomics, paving the way for in-country evaluation of the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc (GA-ASI) Predator XP.
A General Atomics spokesperson told IHS Jane's on 27 May that General Atomics Systems Integration, a subsidiary responsible for defence and aerospace services, had signed the MoU with Kazakhstan's state-owned defence industrial firm Kazakhstan Engineering (KE) to allow the firm to lease the Predator XP for testing and evaluation in Kazakhstan.
A timetable for the testing and evaluation period was not available.
Boeing and General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) are working on flyable demonstrators in support of their Unmanned Carrier-Launched Airborne Surveillance and Strike (Uclass) bids, according to industry officials. Boeing is not commenting on its Uclass work, but GA-ASI's candidate for the slow-gelling U.S. Navy requirement is a larger version of its jet-powered Avenger—which, under another previously undisclosed program, is in low-rate production for the U.S. Air Force. Both are expected to be flying by 2015.
One of the other Uclass contenders, Lockheed Martin, says it has no plans to build a demonstrator. The other, Northrop Grumman, is not disclosing details of its Uclass concepts.
General Atomics unveiled a land-based artillery version of its Blitzer electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) at the Association of the US Army (AUSA) conference in Washington, DC, with a company official telling IHS Jane's that with adequate funding the concept could be demosntrated in "two to three years".
In 2007, building upon knowledge gained under an Office of Naval Research (ONR) Innovative Naval Prototype contract, GA initiated development of the Blitzer system using internal funds.
Despite 2010 testing that included firing a projectile up to Mach 5 speeds the USN opted to develop a larger railgun. General Atomics is now marketing Blitzer as a near-term railgun solution and is pursuing possible land, ship, and submarine-based variants.
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