Re: HKP and the Kra'Vak

PsyWraith wrote:

>Actually, the DSII hyper-kinetic penetrators (HKPs) are not railguns
but
>chemical slug throwers, but firing "small caliber" rounds at hypersonic
>velocities.  The Israelis have used one Real World on an M113 chassis
(60mm)
>while in the US there was the prototype LAV-75 light tank with the Ares
75mm
>gun.  Because they are (relatively) small rounds and rely solely on
kinetic
>energy to destroy their target they are rather useless against infantry
>(okay, if you are hit you are DEAD, but it's not a weapon for killing a
>dispersed, skulking infantry squad).

We had a discussion about the Railgun earlier. Let's review:

The basic construction of the railgun (at its simplest this is a
scientific
device for acclelerating particles) consists of a LARGE capacitor, two
stainless steel rails, and a small thin wire. The capacitor is connected
with each lead connected to one rail, forming an electrical circut of
rail-capacitor-rail. The rails are mounted paralell to each other. To
fire
the basic railgun you drop the thin wire across the rails completing the
circut. The voltage will be too high for the wire to withstand and it
will
be instantly transformed into a metal plasma. The completion of the
circut
will magnetize the rails, briefly and instantly, which will accellerate
the
plasma down the rails, the plasma being conductive itself will keep the
circut completed until it has left the rails, thus keeping magnetic
containment on itself, untill it passes beyond the magnetic containment
of
the rails. The entire process takes place in about one nanosecond
(depending
on capacitor charge, rail length, mass of wire, ect.).

The current Military railgun design involves using this expanding metal
plasma to replace "Expanding Gasses" from chemical slugthrowers. The
main
advantage being that a chem. slugthrower explosion is "contained" in the
barrell of the gun, and uses half it's force producing recoil. The metal
plasma exlosion is forced down the barrell, in theory shouldn't produce
recoil, and the combination of the plasma expanding AND traveling down
the
barrell generates a very very high muzzle velocity.

To wit:

ASCII diagram

* = center of discharge
( ) = edges of explosion (expanding gasses, metal plasma)
[ = back of slug
[1]****(point of ignition)*******
______________________
(*) [chem slug thrower
----------------------------------------
______________________
(*) [railgun
----------------------------------------

[2]******************************

(*  )[chem Slug
 (  *  )[railgun

[3]******************************
(*    )[chem slug
  (    *    )[railgun

[4]*****************************
(*	  )[chem slug
   (	    *	     )[railgun

and so on...

The railgun achieves such incredible velocities because unlike a "chem.
slugthrower" the expanding gasses (metal plasma) themselves are being
pushed
down the barrell by the magnetic properties of the rails and the energy
used
to generate the plasma. Where a chemical slugthrower is using half its
force
in pushing the gun backwards, a properly working railgun should have low
or
no recoil.

The main point being: No a railgun is not a Mass Driver, but it is a
Magnetic Accellerator.

Now for the HKP:

The HKP has the following properties according to St. St. St. Jon: Low
rate
of fire, plasma accellerant. The best way to generate an efficient
plasma
accellerant is with a railgun, and the technology is *at least* twenty
years
old. The main disadvantage of the railgun is the recharge time for the
capacitor, or the power requirements of charging it fast (hopefully
without
blowing the capacitor all over the place), which typically results in a
low
rate of fire. So in the 21XX (still more than a hundred years away, and
we
have made such great advances in killing each other over just this last
century with no reason to think the trend will change) using a railgun
ignition to create a HKP is probably the standard method. More to the
point
: it is probably how the Kra'Vak would build one.

As a sidenote:
It is possible to use the metal plasma itself as a projectile. Basically
it
entails mounting a rocket engine nozzle to the barrel of the gun to
accellerate the plasma to supersonic speeds, getting the plasma to its
target before it dissipates. Based on the description in the book, the
DFFG
is built this way, each round having a capacitor that is spent after it
is
fired, as well as the metal that is to be vaporised. The technology
needed
to do this is at least twenty years old, my father was attempting to
build
one in college, he took out a stereo system with it before he was
finished.
Aparently the parts for it are supposed to be around my house somewhere.

And finally with the post that started this mess [re: Fallout 4]

The resin kits are the cream yellow ones in the U.S. If anyone knows a
way
to clean them properly I'd like to hear about it.