Siheyuan: Game of Red Dust

Chapter 140: Test Firing of the Electromagnetic Railgun
During transmission, the current flows from one rail through the armature and then flows back through the other rail, thus forming a closed circuit.

When such a strong current flows through two parallel rails, a strong magnetic field will be generated between the two rails, forming a strong electromagnetic force.

It is precisely because of this special principle that when the electromagnetic rail gun is fired, a blue electric current flash visible to the naked eye will form in the middle of the two parallel rails that replace the gun barrel, which is extremely sci-fi.

The people who had been dealing with traditional artillery all their lives had never seen this thing before and looked surprised.

"Weidong, the range of this electromagnetic gun is 1000 kilometers?" Commander Yang said.

"Yes, Chief, please arrange the standard and we will test it." Li Weidong nodded and said.

After getting Li Weidong's confirmation, Commander Yang's mouth corners almost stretched to his ears.

"Yes, these are the target coordinates we selected (39.2726 north latitude, 24.2158 east longitude). This is an island reef exposed above the sea level, with an area of ​​about square meters. It is not far from the island where we are stationed and is easy to observe." Commander Yang said.

"Let's begin, Squad Leader Wang, set the strike coordinates: 39.2726 North Latitude, 24.2158 East Longitude. Lock on the target immediately!"

Li Weidong gave orders to Squad Leader Wang who was behind the electromagnetic gun.

"Roger that!"

Squad Leader Wang, upon receiving the order, immediately entered the strike coordinates on the console.

Seeing that Squad Leader Wang was operating the system alone, Commander Yang said to Li Weidong, "Weidong, how many people do we need to operate this electromagnetic railgun?"

Traditional artillery requires at least two personnel, and some are even equipped with four personnel. To fire the shells, at least six people are needed. For some heavy howitzers, the firing team is as large as 12 people.

However, only Squad Leader Wang was operating the electromagnetic railgun, which aroused Chief Yang's curiosity.

"Commander, since the electromagnetic railgun's trajectory is different from that of traditional artillery, it does not require calibration and test firing every time it arrives in a new area, nor does it need to consider atmospheric conditions and other factors such as changing the setting tables and calculations.

The electromagnetic railgun's fire control system only needs to know the coordinates of the firing position itself and the precise coordinates of the target point. Its newly designed fire control system will automatically adjust the firing density, gun elevation angle and power output.

Even when loading this electromagnetic railgun, an automatic loading system is used, and there is no need for a loader.

So even one person can operate this electromagnetic railgun."

Li Weidong answered truthfully.

“Can it be done by just one person?”

After hearing the answer given by Li Weidong, Commander Yang was shocked beyond words.

"How can this be?"

"The friction of the atmospheric density on the projectiles, the wind speed and the gravity field in different regions are all important factors affecting the accuracy of the projectiles."

"Traditional artillery requires so many personnel precisely to help the gunner calculate the impact of these values, so they can make corresponding adjustments to the firing table and improve strike accuracy. You only input the gun position coordinates and target coordinates, completely ignoring the impact of these intermediate links. How can you achieve precise strikes?"

"We have no shortage of personnel. If we have more personnel, we can improve the accuracy of this electromagnetic railgun. I think that would be worthwhile."

One of the leaders brought by Chief Yang spoke to Li Weidong earnestly.

He felt that Li Weidong's design of the electromagnetic railgun had reached an astonishing level, and there was no need to be so picky about it, as it was already at the point where one person could fire and use the electromagnetic railgun.

On the contrary, if more people can help with calibration and improve the accuracy of the artillery shells, it means that this electromagnetic rail gun is equipped with 20 people, which is also worth it in his eyes.

Li Weidong also understood the military's words. He understood what the leader meant after hearing his earnest advice, but the theory he talked about was only for traditional artillery. Electromagnetic railguns did not need that at all.

"Commander, it's not that I don't want to add a few more people to operate the electromagnetic railgun, but it's really not necessary. The electromagnetic railgun has a range of over 1000 kilometers and is launched at a high elevation angle of over 70 degrees. The trajectory of the projectile is similar to that of an intercontinental missile, and it spends most of its time flying outside the Kármán line. Only during the final descent does it need to be nearly vertically loaded into the lower atmosphere of more than ten kilometers.

So we only need the gun position and the target to be hit, and the coordinates, wind speed and air pressure changes will have little impact on it.

It is for this reason that the trajectory of the electromagnetic railgun is more regular, and its actual hit accuracy far exceeds that of ordinary artillery shells, and can even be comparable to guided artillery shells."

Li Weidong explained.

After Li Weidong finished speaking, all the military leaders stared at him with their mouths wide open in shock. Most of them came from technical backgrounds and knew that achieving high accuracy at ultra-long range strikes was a significant challenge. However, they had never imagined that Li Weidong would solve it with such a brilliant, yet simple, method, even raising the accuracy of the electromagnetic railgun to a whole new level.

"What a formidable young talent! A genius and a great invention! So this is the electromagnetic railgun."

The military chief who had just asked Li Weidong a question sighed.

Although he had just said something wrong, there was no unhappiness on his face at the moment. Instead, he highly praised Li Weidong, and his eyes were full of love and appreciation.

"Report, target locked!"

Just as Li Weidong and the others were talking, the voice of Squad Leader Wang came from behind them.

In front of the operating console behind the electromagnetic gun, the real-time images taken by the satellite are also synchronized on the display screen of the operating console.

The target island provided by the military has been completely locked by the electromagnetic railgun.

"fire!"

Li Weidong immediately gave the order.

Immediately afterwards, blue electric light burst out from the two rails of the electromagnetic gun and the hub in the middle, flashing continuously.

With the sound of electric current "sizzling" and the increasingly bright light of the electro-optical electromagnetic rail gun, the energy was fully stored, and a special tungsten alloy projectile was launched out by the electromagnetic force at an initial velocity of nearly Mach 21!

As the bullets were fired, everyone covered their ears tightly due to the huge sonic boom.

After the electromagnetic gun was launched, Li Weidong and others went to the electromagnetic gun's operating console to observe the real-time images of the target island taken by the satellite.

Although the distance of more than 21 kilometers is far, the electromagnetic railgun projectile, at a speed of nearly Mach , will hit the target island in just over two minutes.

……

On a small island not far from the target island, a team of soldiers stationed on the island are observing the target island.

"Company commander, why haven't you come yet?" asked a soldier.

"It's almost here. The commander just finished a phone call and should be here by now. Let's wait. He will definitely call anyway. We just need to follow his orders." said an officer in his 30s.

"Okay, I understand, Captain," said the soldier.

At this moment, a huge "woooo" sound suddenly rang in the ears of the soldiers who were observing.

Almost at the same moment, there was a huge roar of steam rising in front of them, accompanied by steam rising all over the sky and clouds bursting through the sky. It seemed as if everyone's ears and eyes had lost their hearing and vision.

……

"Commander, it was hit! But the picture is not clear now." Li Weidong said.

"What's going on?" Commander Yang said immediately.

"It might be that the kinetic energy is too great, raising dust or water vapor. Don't we have people stationed there? Let's contact them and ask them to check it out." Li Weidong said.

"Yes, yes, yes. Quickly send someone to call over there and ask what the situation is?" Commander Yang said quickly.

An officer immediately ran down.

Seeing this, Li Weidong decided to put his mobile phone on the agenda. It was too inconvenient to use only a landline phone.

After waiting for about six or seven minutes, Commander Yang could no longer stand there.

"What's going on? Why haven't you reported for such a long time? Come on, let's go down and take a look." After Chief Yang finished speaking, he couldn't wait to go down the mountain, and everyone followed him.

(End of this chapter)