Electromagnetic weapons

last SG · 2006-08-02T17:07:29+00:00

This is one of the objectives of the 3G ideas... to make sure munitions hit the right thing at the right time.

tankee1981 SG

Warfare is increasing high tech. How vulnerable is SAF against the threat of EM weapons? Another question is do we have EM weapons of our own? Please comment.

spartan6 SG

Even e SAF have they wont say & we wouldnt possiably know cos they have 2 kill u Cool

tankee1981 SG

http://www.sgforums.com/?action=thread_display&thread_id=183967&page=1

I have posted a clip about electromagnetic warfare in the video clip section. It is pretty well made as it is from Military Channel. Please take a look. Very Happy

beavan SG

singapore troops dun have much high tech stuff.

tankee1981 SG

I think Singapore is will be very vulnerable to EM weapons because we are very dependent on high tech equipment. What are our defences? Very Happy

MobyDog SG

I have read articles and professional discussion about this afew years ago. Don't remember where...

EMP weapons while it works.. is however very short ranged. The Charged Capacitors themselves interferes with the most basic guiding systems of their delivery vehicles... meaning alot of work ahead.

Then there are the natural elements to the equation - AIR, trees, mountains, hills, buildings. However, the biggest problem is air.. don't recall the problem.. but it will limits the effectiveness of it... anything short of a nuke explosion... but hiroshima only records a few kilometres of effectiveness, unless the EM weapon can generate such a strength ... then maybe... We are talking about very very very large latent charge here. So if the EMP weapon is of a 2,000 lb iron bomb equivalent size.. it is only effective for a few metres from centre of sphere... a cruize missle would be more effective. However, if detonated on a power station, it will have a ripple effect on power distribution islandwide, but a Tomahawk would also have the same outcome...

However, the use of Silicon Diode(as I recall) will protect systems against this threat.. rendering it useless.. but developement cost is a factor... but not impossible. Silicon Diode itself is not complicated.

If it is truly effective, GWII would have seen it's use... and US would have secretly detonated one at the Iranian Nuclear Generation plant... if they are operating as claimed.

I might be wrong.. but this is what I had gathered... I'm not versed in this field.. so don't shoot a bullet into the back of my head.. Very Happy

lionnoisy SG

20 July 2006,USN sets five-year target to develop electromagnetic gun
By Stephen Trimble JDW Americas Bureau Chief
Washington, DC

The US Navy (USN) has instituted a five-year timeline to crack a historically elusive breakthrough in the field of weapons technology - a tactically useful electromagnetic (EM) rail gun.

The potential of electromagnetic power to shatter the speed and range limits of traditional artillery fired by exploding gas has captivated naval and land warfare visionaries for nearly a century, but the promise has always outpaced a number of stubborn technical obstacles.

The development of conductive metals - for the rails, propelling armature and containment bore - strong enough to survive multiple firings is just one of the basic challenges. Controlling the projectile is another concern. The ballistic flightpath of the rail gun's 'bullet' would propel it into space, making re-entry into Earth's atmosphere a survivability issue.

The round would be launched from the gun at a speed of M7.5 and speed at impact on a target 200 n miles away would be about M 5.0. Such speed and range are why some think of EM guns as ushering the next true revolution in weapon technology, with the capability to fire directly on enemy surface ships found within the horizon in six seconds and to fire indirectly on fixed and relocated targets up to 200 n miles away within six minutes.

210 of 586 words

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

They did use EM weapons during GW2, but obviously it was not the kind of kill-all weapon we’d like to think of it as… but it was still useful. Basically a normal iron bomb rebuilt to use its explosion to power an EM pulse. Good for messing up electronics… but then again any electronics close enough to be destroyed by the EM would be destroyed by the blast of the bomb… but still it worked I think, to some extent on electronics out of the blast range…

p7m13 SG

Come to think of it… one EMP shockwave and there goes our 3G SAF already.

BadzMaro SG

Laughing

thats why u guys still learn basic combat ma... still gotta learn to hug the mud and do things without hightech stuff~

nismoS132 SG

i remember seeing a video of our tanks test-firing a certain round.

it knocked out the video camera.

Alvin.Yeoh SG

Aren’t most military electronics and critical infrastructure shielded from the effects of EM?

tankee1981 SG

nismoS132 mind explaining what you meant by the phrase 'knocked out' in your earlier post?

One possible explanation may be that the camera is knocked out by the strong shock waves after a high velocity FS round is being fired from an SM1. I just want to make sure that you don't mean this kind of knock out. Very Happy

PS. By the way, are you refering to this clip?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EFq2Jqm4h8E&search=tank%20firing

beavan SG

erm i never heard of a electromagnetic round. doesn't make any sense to mount something like that on a tank

saline SG

looks like wallaby leh.

nismoS132 SG

eh the video not so lousy one lah.

the camera was quite far away from the target, basically a round was fired, the target blew up, after 1-2 seconds, the recording became very bad with a lot of static (imagine a bad VHS tape) and later the recording froze. it's not the recording being stopped, i've worked with cameras and worked on short film productions anymore, it was't anything like that.

it wasn't anything online. i was doing a presentation for some higher ups and so i had access to a HDD with all this kind of stuffs. there were also video presentations of the primus test firing and 3d representations of how the insides of the primus works. nothing really top secret lah, more like fancy videos and presentations for impressing the high ranks.

SingaporeTyrannosaur SG

Proper milspec electronics would be harderned to some aspect, but the civvie stuff is going to be fried. Which would work well if distrupting civvie stuff is your aim.

And come to think of it, the military has a lot of soft electronics as well. Imagine they just EMP your unit HQ, all the paperwork gone liao and people cannot apply for leave through the CLS... sure sian one.

tankee1981 SG

I think we should harden our equipment to protect them against EM weapons, this is because as we evolve into a 3G military we become increasingly (some may say excessively) dependent on technology for fighting any future war.

On the other hand we should also develop offensive EM weapon capability. This is especially important, should we ever face an enemy who is as or even more technologically advanced than us. Very Happy

MobyDog SG

You know.. the talk of 3G being a milestone in warfare has it's limit... overly dependent on electronic.

You see, when I looked at all the gadgets and Portable handheld palmtops and laptops being used in the field.. It made me wonder how are they going to recharge and how many tons of batteries are they going to bring along in a sustain conflict. To be effective all those gadgets have to be switched on to be effective... and Boy.. do they consume power... how long could those notebook batteries last - 10 hrs.

If all those gadgets are out of batteries in the field.. they are just excess junk.

It's bad enough to to hunk arounf the PRC and all its's batteries.. but I find radio communication are the most important.

The way i see it.. the 3G concept is only suited for short conflict... till logistic problems creeps up with the supply of batteries. while it's a advantage is it's strategic HQ planning and execution of operations... but that's pretty common in modern military structures. What's so 3D about it. Put a palm top on every soldiers hands... once batteries out.. it's still the man with his rifle and radio.

SpecOps87 SG

Yep,totally agree. All these electronic gizmo wizmo all require one form of charging station or other. They can't run on solar too...Its good to go 3G, but 3G also has it limitations. But since the communications being on of the key factors in war, it must be noted that perhaps everyone in the section will now be equipped with their personal comms. with a range of up to like 3km which is reasonable.