Supercavitating projectile technology

[EnigmaNZ]

Sorry guys, wrong forum, should be under the Tech Forum

Using this technology we could soon see underwater CIWS to protect ships from torpedoes and mines. Bullets capable of travelling perhaps hundreds of feet underwater, then able to destroy a mine, a torpedo, or hole a submarine. Science fiction, far from it, this technology is already available in working prototypes it seems.

"The first class of weapons is represented by RAMICS (for Rapid Airborne Mine Clearance System), a soon-to-be-requisitioned helicopter-borne weapon that destroys surface and near-surface marine mines by firing supercavitating rounds at them. The 20-millimeter flat-nosed projectiles, which are designed to travel stably through both air and water, are shot from a modified rapid-fire gun with advanced targeting assistance.
The next step in supercavitating projectile technology will be an entirely subsurface gun system using Adaptable High-Speed Undersea Munitions (AHSUM). These would take the form of supercavitating "kinetic-kill" bullets that are fired from guns in streamlined turrets fitted to the submerged hulls of submarines, surface ships or towed mine-countermeasure sleds. The sonar-directed AHSUM system is hoped to be the underwater equivalent of the U.S. Navy's Phalanx weapons system, a radar-controlled rapid-fire gun that protects surface vessels from incoming cruise missiles."

http://www.ocnus.net/cgi-bin/exec/view.cgi?archive=64&num=16623

http://www.stratmag.com/issueMay-15/page02.htm

 

[gf0012-aust]

I've dealt with the original inventor of RAMICS about 5 years ago when I was working on a ballistics project.

Needless to say, there is substantial capability in this system that is not on the net.

I was also lucky enough to meet the US scientist who developed cavitating torpedos (this was about 12 years before the Russians). The yanks have some amazing tech that they keep parked.

 

[moosey]

I know that metalstorm are working in this area,
I asked a few questions about it to someone who should know, and was told it was commercial in confidance, so you won't hear anything about it until it is released to the market, but I can tell you this, from what I have gleaned, they aren't talking about 200mtrs or so, it's more like 1000mtrs effective from what I gather.sorry I changed the distance I was thinking the poster previously said a couple of hundred feet, well no it's more like 1000 metres!!!!!perhaps more?

 

[gf0012-aust]

I know that metalstorm are working in this area,
I asked a few questions about it to someone who should know, and was told it was commercial in confidance, so you won't hear anything about it until it is released to the market, but I can tell you this, from what I have gleaned, they aren't talking about 200mtrs or so, it's more like 1000mtrs effective from what I gather.

are you talking about a broadside shot or a penetrating shot? If its the latter then I seriously doubt it. MST is nowhere anywhere near the technology required for a cavitating weapon to do a zero to depth penetrating kill. The weapon is incapable of discharging the requisite shaped projectile - and it doesn't have the barrel mechanics to undertake a RAMICs style response.

From my own involvement with cavitators and an australian developed ballistics solution , I'd bet my house and my dog (which I value more than my house!) on MST not being able to deliver on a RAMICs style depth contact weapon.

 

[moosey]

To tell you the truth gf0012-aust, I don't know whether it is a front on shot or a side shot?I don't know the detail, I wish I did, and I didn't come here to confuse anyone, all I can tell you is what I have heard, perhaps it's BS, but from where I heard it, I do believe it is true,but I can tell you this, I did think once that the 2nd projectile which was fired quicktime, which caused the mach 5/50 effect travelled in a slipstream, but I was informed that it actually travelled in a vacuum?

 

[gf0012-aust]

To tell you the truth gf0012-aust, I don't know whether it is a front on shot or a side shot?I don't know the detail, I wish I did, and I didn't come here to confuse anyone, all I can tell you is what I have heard, perhaps it's BS, but from where I heard it, I do believe it is true,but I can tell you this, I did think once that the 2nd projectile which was fired quicktime, which caused the mach 5/50 effect travelled in a slipstream, but I was informed that it actually travelled in a vacuum?

no probs. ok. I think I get a picture of what you were told. as a really bad analogy, its akin to a semi tailgating another semi - it is in essence being pulled into the stream by the front "asset". thats not cavitation but slipstreaming.

I've seen the MST projectiles up close and personal - and there is no way in Hades that they could be used in their current dimensions (not only shape - but also length and width dimensions) as cavitating projectiles.

I think the person talking to you has misunderstood the differences in cavitating, vacuum operations, slipstreaming and the more than substantial differences (in this scenario) of aero and fluid dynamics.

I don't think they were deliberately BS'ing you - but they aren't across the technology definitions by some margin.

Addon: I'm more than happy to discuss some of this offline rather than on here