Continued testing of the cannon caliber electromagnetic gun system (CCEMG)

The cannon caliber electromagnetic gun system is based upon a compulsator driven 30 mm rapid fire railgun system. The objective of the program was to develop a compact, lightweight test bed capable of launching three, five round salvoes of 185 g integrated launch packages to 1.85 km/s at a firing rate of 5 Hz. Per contractual requirements, the pulse power system is also size compatible with the amphibious assault vehicle. The pulse power system was developed around a fourth generation air-core, 4-pole rotating armature, self-excited, compulsator design. Although the contract for this effort has expired, the system continues to be used in part to demonstrate compulsator driven railgun technology. This system has performed seven single shots using identical control settings for each shot, which is the first such experience using a compulsator driven railgun system. This paper describes the experimental set-up for the demonstrations and compares the generator, converter, gun switch, and launcher performances for each shot.