The UK electric gun programme in 1998

The UK is undertaking research into both electromagnetic (EM) and electrothermal-chemical (ETC) propulsion for future weapon systems. In the EM field, efforts have been concentrated in the railgun armature area. Recent work has tried to reduce the parasitic mass of base-push solid armatures, since this leads directly to lower launch energies and greater overall system efficiency. The aim is to understand the many property requirements needed to allow velocities over 2000 ms/sup -1/ with full mass payloads. The use of multi-material armatures has been shown to be beneficial both theoretically and through examination of hardware recovered after firings at Kirkcudbright. Conditions at high velocities and energies have been found to be vastly different from those at more moderate levels, and support the UK decision to tackle the problems in these difficult regimes. Recent ETC research effort has spanned the topic from the fundamental to the systems' levels. The fundamental plasma-propellant interactions continue to be studied. Enhanced gas generation rates (EGGR), both during and in some cases after the electrical discharge, have been studied in a wider variety of propellant types and geometries. The scaling of plasma generators has been investigated. A plasma jet type of plasma generator has been operated successfully in open-air at a peak electrical power of 3 GW. The concept of muzzle velocity control of artillery guns known as "Smart Gun" has also been studied. Analysis indicates that the concept has the potential to significantly improve artillery precision.