China to test magnetized plasma artillery

[beijingwalker]

China to test magnetized plasma artillery
By Liu Xuanzun Source:Global Times Published: 2019/2/18 14:47:00

A PLZ-83 152mm self-propelled howitzer system attached to a brigade under the PLA 81st Group Army fires at mock target during a round-the-clock live-fire training exercise at an artillery training base in north China in late September, 2018. Photo: eng.chinamil.com.cn

The Chinese military is looking to procure test systems for magnetized plasma artillery, according to a notice on the People's Liberation Army (PLA) weapon and equipment procurement website weain.mil.cn last week.

Released on Wednesday and due expire on Thursday, the notice invites tenders for a theory-testing and a launch system for magnetized plasma artillery.

Although the weapon sounds as if it comes from a sci-fi movie, it will probably not shoot high-energy plasma but ultra-high velocity cannon shells.

The notice did not elaborate on the nature of magnetized plasma artillery. However, the PLA Academy of Armored Forces Engineering filed a patent with the same name in 2015 to the National Intellectual Property Administration, according to the administration's website.

According to the specification of the patent, the cannon will have magnetic material covering the gun barrel and a magnetic field generator to create a certain magnetic field inside the barrel.

When artillery is fired, gas inside the barrel will be partly ionized into plasma by the high pressure and heat. The plasma will then form about a millimeter sheath on the inner wall of the barrel due to the magnetic field, the patent specification said.

The magnetized plasma layer can greatly reduce the radial force the barrel takes and boost thrust of the cannon shell, making it possible for the initial velocity of shells to exceed Mach 6, the limit for conventional artillery.

By comparison, an electromagnetic railgun can in theory accelerate its munitions to Mach 7, US-based media outlet the National Interest reported. But a railgun and its power system are so large that they are not mobile unless installed on large warships, the report said.

The patented Chinese technology, however, can be installed on tanks and self-propelled guns, the specification said.

"Thanks to the increased thrust, the range of the artillery can also be extended," Wei Dongxu, a Beijing-based military analyst, told the Global Times on Monday.

Wei predicts the new technology would extend the range of a conventional 155-millimeter self-propelled howitzer from 30-50 kilometers to 100 kilometers.

The plasma layer might also reduce friction between the barrel and rounds, making the weapon more accurate, he said.

The layer can also provide heat resistance to the barrel, which will prolong its service life.

http://www.globaltimes.cn/content/1139224.shtml

 

[Menthol]

It's basically a railgun with different method.

 

[GraveDigger388]

It's basically a railgun with different method.

Negative.

Railguns utilize just those; Rails.
The currents are delivered through one rail, to the armature (i.e., the projectile of the munition), and then returned through the other rail opposite the first one.
The action then results in the armature getting pushed away from the currents source via electromagnetic force, which by default, was supposed to push each rail further away from each-other.


This, on the other hand, produces a magnetic layer of some sort inbetween the shell and the barrel. 'Levitating' the shell, if you will. So there would be no direct contact and friction between the shell and the barrel. Think of it like lubricant inside of an engine cylinder, between the piston and the cylinder lining.

If anything it has a similarity with Gauss Gun.

 

[oprih]

Good, muricans will cry again for being left behind.

 

[beijingwalker]

China is testing Mach 6 weapons with magnetized plasma
Feb. 27, 2019 10:18AM EST
(Chinese military/Jiao Mingjin and Li Pengfei)

The Chinese military is preparing to test magnetized plasma artillery capable of firing hypervelocity rounds at speeds in excess of Mach 6, six times the speed of sound, Chinese media reports.

The power and range of such a weapon would likely offer tremendous advantages on the battlefield, assuming it actually works, which is apparently what the Chinese military is interested in finding out.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) appears to have begun soliciting vendors for magnetized plasma artillery test systems, a notice recently posted on the Chinese military's official procurement website indicated.

The planned testing is presumably to evaluate theories presented in a PLA Academy of Armored Forces Engineering patent submitted to the National Intellectual Property Administration four years ago.

The Chinese military patent explains how the magnetized plasma could theoretically enhance the artillery's power.

First, a magnetic field is created inside the barrel using a magnetized material coating on the exterior and an internal magnetic field generator.

Then, when the artillery is fired, the tremendous heat and pressure inside the firing tube ionizes some of the gas, turning it into plasma and forming a thin, protective magnetized plasma sheath along the inner wall of the barrel.

The developers believe the plasma will decrease friction while providing heat insulation, thus extending the power and range of the artillery piece without jeopardizing the structural integrity of the cannon or negatively affecting the overall service life of the weapon.

Magnetized plasma sounds like something straight out of science fiction, but apparently this technology is something China feels it can confidently pursue.

Chinese media claims that magnetized plasma artillery systems, provided they work as intended, could easily be installed on tanks and self-propelled guns. This weapon is more manageable than the country's experimental electromagnetic railgun, which it has reportedly begun testing at sea.

Chinese media reports that this concept has already been tested on certain tanks.

Unlike the naval railgun, which is an entirely new technology, magnetized plasma artillery would be more of an upgrade to the Chinese army's conventional cannons. Chinese military experts toldChinese media they estimate that this improvement could extend the range of a conventional 155 mm self-propelled howitzer from around 30-50 kilometers to 100 kilometers.

And the round's initial velocity would be greater than Mach 6, just under the expected speed of an electromagnetic railgun round.

China is "on the verge of fielding some of the most modern weapon systems in the world," a US Defense Intelligence Agency report stated in January 2019.

But China is not running this race unopposed, as the US military is determined not to be outgunned.

The US Army is currently pushing to boost the range of its artillery to outgun near-peer threats, namely China and Russia. The new Extended Range Cannon Artillery has already doubled the reach of traditional artillery pieces, firing rounds out to 62 kilometers.

The immediate goal for Long Range Precision Fires, a division of Army Futures Command, is to reach 70 kilometers; however, the Army plans to eventually develop a strategic cannon with the ability to fire rounds over 1,000 miles and shatter enemy defenses in strategic anti-access zones.

The US Army is also looking at using hypervelocity railgun rounds to extend the reach of US artillery.

https://www.wearethemighty.com/gear-tech/china-mach-6-weapons-plasma?rebelltitem=6#rebelltitem6