Setup and performance of a 105 mm electrothermal gun

Within the France-German R&D programme on electric guns, a 105 mm electrothermal gun has been designed and fabricated to be fired in the 30 MJ facility "FEUER-STELLUNG 2000" located at the Rheinmetall proving ground in Unterluss. It was the goal to demonstrate the acceleration of 2 kg flight projectiles to up to 2500 m/s with this gun. The paper gives an overview of the design criteria of the gun as well as the realized design solutions. The results of a finite element analysis of the breech systems are presented. The experiments which lead successively to the operation with full energy input are described and evaluated and the performance characteristics of the gun are discussed.