Re: [GZG] Railguns

Jerry wrote:
>I read the article -- the thing I don't understand is that why do
people think
>this would replace missiles?  I can see using this at fairly low
ranges, when
>you have a line of sight at the target (and anti-air defence just got a
hell
>of a lot scarier, if they can get this to work reliably) but, I didn't
think
>you could shoot over the horizon practically with a railgun, because
>the trajectory is so flat.

It's more a complement to missiles than a replacement.

You're not going to hit moving targets at 180km without
fairly amazing aerial/satellite tracking. (At least on
Earth you won't, space is another matter entirely.)
The focus seems more on hitting ground targets such as
bunkers from a long way offshore, and doing so with
cheap chunks of metal instead of expensive missiles.

At long range, over 100km ? or so, the trajectory
should have enough arc to clear buildings in the way.

	cheers,
	Hugh
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