As you know, the USN finally gave up on developing and fielding a rail gun because after 15 years and $500 million they could not get anything close to a workable prototype much less an actual weapon.
I know a man who could develop, test, produce and field a working naval rail gun in 5 years if the Government hired him AND got out of his way. So do you.
The problem with developing a railgun as a project is finding a man willing to devote everything he has to making it a reality and I suspect that the "Research $ Development" Team had other things on their mind than making a railgun a reality in the next 2 years. In other words, they got an acquisition team together and threw money at them and never expected a concrete result at the end of say, a 2 year period of performance and there were no penalties for failure because the money sure as Hell wasn't coming out of their pocket.
We've been down this route before and as usual it comes down to the simple fact that the man in charge and the men building it simply didn't want it bad enough. It's not like they were going to make enormous profits or anything motivational like that. It was a job that they were paid to come in and do every day with no expectation of any gain beyond continued employment. That is essentially what University research and military research boils down to these days. There's a reason that nobody is making tomorrow's weapons today anymore and it isn't because the concepts are not out there, it is just that going from concept to development and fielding is a barren field now because the key motivator is missing.
Nothing motivates like survival except greed and profit.
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Speaking from experience, middle management often has no idea what they are doing and why. They only care about metrics. This is on both sides of a project. The "precious geniuses" want one thing, the guys who will actually be using the system want something quite different. DAMHIK
Most "weapons system research" is nothing but an excuse to steal tax dollars, not create anything useful.
Weapon Research doesn't like "surprises".
Musk and Co might be given a free reign to produce a "Railgun" yet some up with something quite different that is "better".
And that SCARES the Military as they are very hidebound.
How hidebound? It was standard infantry tactics to shoot the horses when Calvery was attacking. YET the introduction of machine guns the Military STILL WANTED CALVERY.
When Mitchell proved an armored Battleship could be sunk by airpower, they denied the results (not a modern ship, not maneuvering, not shooting back etc.) and barely grudgingly "allowed" some Carrier development.
an UHSPDS (ultra high speed projectile delivery system), presently known as "railgun", is available today with today's materials with a power consumption far, far smaller than has been considered; it just requires a total revision of concept
Thus spake cacarus
...Just the thought of being railed brings tears to my eyes....
The technology is not there yet. We are not far away.
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