Using the Hexagonal Segmented Railgun in Multishot Mode With Three Projectiles

Abstract

This is an extended version of a conference contribution to the 16th International Symposium on Electromagnetic Launch . It is updated by the results of a recent experiment. The ${\rm SR}\backslash 3\hbox{--}60$ is a 2-m-long segmented railgun with three individual pairs of rails (segments). The independence of the individual segments allows up to three projectiles to be loaded into the barrel and fired in rapid succession. This mode of operation can increase the firing rate and decrease the thermal load per segment, as compared to a simple railgun firing projectiles in rapid succession. During the preparation for the multishot experiments, different parameters describing the performance of the acceleration are measured and investigated. These pretests allow the definition of the parameters for the safe operation of the multishot experiments. Initial multishot experiments are performed using different time delays in between the launch of the projectiles. The performance of these experiments is analyzed.