Power Down: Senate Zaps Navy’s Superlaser, Railgun
The one undisputed role of the US FedGuv is to provide for the common defence of the nation. To do this, the US Military needs to be well equipped. In an era when backwards nations like Iran can orbit satellites, this means maintaining a high level of advanced weaponry. Which means *developing* advanced weaponry. And in recent years, considerable strides have been made in developing practical laser and railgun weapons. Strides sufficient enough that planners have been able to foresee actual deployment dates. Both systems would be invaluable in the defense of ships against the next generation of anti-ship missiles. Faster than ever, the new missiles are becoming increasingly difficult to intercept with missiles or traditional guns. Far higher velocities are required of the interceptors… and both the railgun and the laser promise just that.
But the Senate sees the future otherwise, and has slashed funding for both.
So if the Chinese field hypersonic anti-ship missiles and start taking out US carrier battle groups… you know who to thank.
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9 Responses to “Senate Armed Services Committee to US: Get Bent”
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ones again the US FedGuv strike again
so they kill US VTOL, Manned Mars Flight, the List is to long
Now the dunderheads on Captiol Hill kill US NAVY railgun and the FE laser program
simelar happent to Constellation program
it show the hypocrites attitude of the dunderheads on Captiol Hill
“USA must dominating in High tech but NO commissioning of it”
i bet the F-35 will be next victim
by the way your Dunderheads on Captiol Hill:
CHINA DO ALSO HIGH TECH RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT
AND THEY COMMISSIONING THERE RESULT, LIKE STEALTH AIRCRAFT…
Let’s face it, bullets beans and bases have always ranked higher in the minds of many. The problem with our military is the same as with social programs. It costs a lot of folks to man outdate WWII/Cold War era force projection modes. Right now, the military looks to face cuts from conservatives–a new one.
The trick here is to find an opportunity to turn this on its ear, and do it in such a way that even Progressives can get on board. You might have to swallow hard on this, but here goes. Have any progressives you know (who will winin rust belt states) extend the supermajority to social programs and have it regulated to where military expendatures could only be paid for by higher taxes.
Boo hiss, you say–but wait.
DARPA is exempt, and black budget programs are expanded All space expendatures are exempt and can NEVER be cut. A rumor I hear is that there is a program called PING that allows radar detection of firearms, that are, of course, a worldwide nuisance.
See what I am doing?
You can package this in a way where a Democrat majority will go along with it, and wiser pro-space Blue-Dogs will keep their mouth shut.
You know that Jack Reed is buried in the Kremlin wall…
I think that 1/35 would go over better with military model collectors than 1/32, as it’s the standard scale for larger armor models, and the 1/32 stuff suffers in sales due to its odd scale, and inability to get figures and equipment to use with it in dioramas.
You might also look into doing it in 1/48 scale, which seems to be making a comeback, especially in Japan.
Whoop’s, wrong subject.
So did all those you listed vote to kill it? If Jim Webb voted that way then I’d be partial to following his opinion. He was sec Navy under Reagan and assist Def sec, not to mention a pretty damn good author.
Of course, considering his political career, it might be the case that he’s been kidnapped by the Chinese and replaced by a double. ; )
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Webb
All those listed are on the Senate Armed Services Committee. Not sure who voted which way.
Although the laser was designed as a antiaircraft/antimissile system, from the info the Navy was putting out the rail gun was intended for very long range (100+ miles) attacks on ground targets and possibly ships.
It would be fired in the approximate direction of the target and use some form of terminal guidance system (optical comparison, GPS, or radar) to allow it to strike with high precision; sort of a cheaper version of a Tomahawk with a far higher launch rate.
Two advantages the ship basing of both systems had was that a ship could carry the powerful electrical generators needed to power them…say large gas turbine powered generators…and the cooling they needed could be done by using sea water and a immersed heat exchanger assembly to circulate liquid coolant around them.
I’m still up in the air if we needed either system right now…every time we’ve gone up against an enemy since Vietnam, we’ve gone through their defenses like a hot knife through butter due to our tactics, training, and equipment being so superior to theirs.
If you were going to cancel something, the F-35 might be a better choice, as the handwriting is on the wall about the job it’s designed to do being taken over by by unmanned aerial vehicles in the pretty near future.
The Predator drones have really changed the whole technological ballgame in Afghanistan, allowing long duration reconnaissance and precision missile strikes at a very low price compared to manned aircraft operations, and it wasn’t even originally designed as a strike platform.
> we’ve gone through their defenses like a hot knife through butter due to our tactics, training, and equipment being so superior to theirs.
Equipment evolves. Even the other guys’.