This article investigates outfitting an amphibious platform with an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG), which is a high velocity weapon that can fire projectiles at ranges up to 100 nautical miles. An EMRG would provide the amphibious fleet with offensive capability, as well as defensive capability against surface threats, missiles, and airborne threats. Because the railgun remains in the early stages of development, the Navy’s railgun prototype has been modeled in ExtendSim. Detailed assessment of changes to EMRG design suggest that improvements to the probability of hit of the EMRG has a greater impact on performance than improvements to either cycle time or engagement range. This provides an opportunity for tradeoffs to be made in the design of the railgun and its projectile in which the power requirements (and size) can be scaled down without negatively impacting effectiveness, provided the probability of hit of the projectiles is not reduced.
Cost Analysis for Operational and System Level Considerations for an Electromagnetic Railgun on an Amphibious Platform
- Source: Department of Systems Engineering • Naval Postgraduate School
- Specific Source: Presented at the 2021 Winter Simulation Conference
- Date: 2021
