last summer, the U.S. Navy has tested a new Form of cannon projectile successfully. The USS Dewey has made 20 shots. The special feature here: The ammo is very much more than a conventional bullet and is much faster. In this case, the projectile of a normal ship was fired cannon, reported the news portal of the U.S. Navy. Higher reach and higher speed of a missile, in principle, dangerous. The new ammunition could lead to a Renaissance of the old pipe guns, because drones are able to, missiles and Cruise-Missiles to intercept.

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The USS Zumwalt is like a star destroyer to the water. Crammed with missiles, you should secure the Power of the US Navy on all oceans of the world. But the cost explosion was the planned destroyer fleet to just three copies of shrink. In addition, it is plagued by glitches.

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USS Zumwalt – the largest and deadliest destroyer of all times

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Originally developed the ammunition for a new Generation of weapons. You should be fired from an electromagnetic Railgun. Now it was converted for use in a classic ship’s cannon. As it is now being accelerated by an exploding propellant charge, the weapon is not a Hyper-sonic speed, but still three times the speed of sound and a range of approximately 40 nautical miles. In the case of a Railgun, it would be nautical miles, six times the speed of sound, and 100.

Cheaper than missiles

super cavitation

submarines in the future – with 5800 km/h under water

Gernot Kramper

The ammunition does not have its own drive, so costs are saved. It only uses the energy created when Firing the propellant charge. For this you has a seeker head that guides the missile to the target. The cost per shot can be between 85,000 and 100,000 U.S. dollars. For an artillery projectile that would be very expensive, but this ammo is replaced to-air missiles, which are much more expensive. In 2016, the guided-missile destroyer USS Mason fired three rockets, two of the older Cruise Missiles to intercept, which was fired from Houthi rebels. The use of a cost of several million dollars.

Since then, the Pentagon is looking for affordable solutions to the air defense. Bryan Clark of the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments said, “USNI News”: “let’s Look at the kind of threats we are exposed to in the Middle East – these are simple Cruise Missiles or larger drones. We now have a way to shoot them down, without the use of rockets for millions of dollars.”

This development could trigger a Renaissance of the well-known pipe-cannons. Ships belonging to the appearance of struggle, but have lost in times of guided missiles, the importance of. With conventional ammunition, lengths of twelve to 20 nautical miles can only be achieved – an attack with missile weapons would be far out of cannon range to take place

Navy arms