A GPS that can survive 15,000 Gs

Jay Honeck

Jay Honeck

Touchdown! Greaser!
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Jay Honeck
The Military Channel is showing a program that outlines new artillery technology.

The Excalibur artillery shell is now GPS-guided. All of the electronics, plus the little motors that move the fins, are hardened to withstand the 15,000-G load of firing!

More amazingly, if they know your coordinates, they can now put that shell into your living room -- from THIRTY miles away!

Funny -- I remember my Lowrance Airmap 100 (my second GPS) breaking when I dropped it on the ramp... :rolleyes:
 
Your Lowrance didn't cost a tiny fraction of what those artillery shells do, either. I remember when the Copperhead was new and exciting... an artillery shell that can sprout fins and fly itself to laser designated target. Again, the challenge is getting the electronics package to survive the initial acceleration.
 
Yeah - when you pot all the electronics, that package can take a pretty good jolt.
 
Matthew said:
Yeah - when you pot all the electronics, that package can take a pretty good jolt.
Click to expand...

I picked up the spec sheet for the artillery reciever that my company makes. The huge g numbers are for loads perpendicular to the circuit board (along the bore of the gun), and obviously the potting supports those loads. I spoke with one of the engineers and he said they had to worry about the cross loads because individual conductor traces could snap under their own weight when fired. So they looked at the loads all the way down to the trace runs on the silicon itself.

Very cool.

Very not cheap.
 
COFlyBoy said:
I picked up the spec sheet for the artillery reciever that my company makes. The huge g numbers are for loads perpendicular to the circuit board (along the bore of the gun), and obviously the potting supports those loads. I spoke with one of the engineers and he said they had to worry about the cross loads because individual conductor traces could snap under their own weight when fired. So they looked at the loads all the way down to the trace runs on the silicon itself.

Very cool.

Very not cheap.
Click to expand...

While it may increase to cost of the shell by a lot, it's still a lot cheaper then other ways of putting exploding ordnance right where you want it.
 
jtheune said:
While it may increase to cost of the shell by a lot, it's still a lot cheaper then other ways of putting exploding ordnance right where you want it.
Click to expand...

That's for sure.

Although artillery "barrages" still have their purpose, it is now possible to fire one or two rounds to take out very specific targets. Amazing stuff.
 
Jay Honeck said:
That's for sure.

Although artillery "barrages" still have their purpose, it is now possible to fire one or two rounds to take out very specific targets. Amazing stuff.
Click to expand...

They can do barrages with the guided munitions. Aim at different targets, and time the arrival of the shell so that all of the shots land at the same time all from one gun. (I don't know how many shots can realistically be included in that kind of barrage, though).

Why do people ever want to go to war with us?

I'm all for getting our guys out of harms way. So I like stand-off highly accurate weapons, like this. But, I think it is a bit unfair to the guy on the recieving end. He should at least have enough warning time to start his last prayer. We should put the Sirens of Jericho on our shells just to give them a little warning.
 
COFlyBoy said:
We should put the Sirens of Jericho on our shells just to give them a little warning.
Click to expand...

There was a Wayne's World skit on SNL during Gulf War I when all the video feeds from the TV guided missiles were being broadcast on the news. Wayne and Garth were joking about how a missle could be sent right through a chosen door:

"Knock, knock"
"Who's there?"
"Ka"
"Ka who?"
"Ka-BOOM"
 
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