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60mm Electrothermal propulsion test round base

SG500

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
The photographs show the base stub of a 60mm electothermal propulsion test round.
As described below it is made of stainless steel with a very thick base.
Rim diameter is 105mm
Height 80mm
Base thickness about 35mm
Weight 2196 grammes (yes that's correct, not a typo, over 2kg due to the thick base)
The info and link below are from youtube.
Does anyone have any photographs or drawings of what the complete round would look like?
Dave.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNGEWZxlE30
In the early 1990's the US Navy sponsored a project to build and test a massive 60mm bore, ten-shot, autoloading electrothermal-chemical anti-missile cannon. The huge cannon mechanism and barrel are about 14 feet long and weigh a few tons. The cannon is shown firing test projectiles, but the ultimate goal was to fire guided or steered projectiles which were being developed in another project. Most of the rounds fired in the tests shown are "conventional" rounds using conventional solid propellant. Some of the rounds, as indicated by the onscreen text, were electrothermal propulsion test rounds. Those used various conventional propellants or mixtures of one or more types of it, plus a high-energy electrical pulse through the propellant, in hopes that the electrical energy would be converted into kinetic energy. The cannon mechanism is of the revolver type, where the revolver cylinder is indexed by hydraulic actuators. There are ten removeable chambers in the cylinder. The rounds of ammunition were typically constructed like plastic shotgun shells, but were bottle-necked, not cylindrical. They had a "high base" of thick stainless steel, and a body of moulded polyethelyne.

The action of this huge revolver was reminiscent of the M1895 Nagant Russian service revolver, in that there was a mechanism to cause an overlap between the chambers and the barrel at each discharge. This is called a "gas seal" revolver system. See a more thorough description of the venerable M1895 Nagant "gas seal" revolver here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nagant_M...

This project was loosely at least part of the Reagan ""Star Wars" program, aka "Strategic Defense Initiative" or simply SDI. More info on that late Cold War event here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strategi...

The 60mm ETC gun was mounted on a "CIWS" mounting as used aboard US Navy and navies of other allies. CIWS is the "Close-In Weapons System," a radar-controlled 20mm Gatling gun used to defend warships against anti-ship cruise missiles. The USN name for the system is "Phalanx." Read more about this sytems here: https://www.google.com/#hl=en&scl...

One of the Navy's press releases on this project reads:

"The 60 mm electrothermal-chemical (ETC) demonstrator was built and tested as part of the Navy's ship self defense development effort. The program conducted integrated tests of a new 60 mm rapid fire ETC gun/autoloader, CIWS mount, electric pulse power source, and ETC cartridge. The program has resulted in many advances in ETC propulsion including: reliable rapid fire electrothermal (ET) power transfer through a gun breech; repeatable rapid fire gun/propelling charge interface; and demonstration of ETC propulsion in an automatic gun system. Successful operation of the CIWS mount in an ETC environment has shown that EMI is not a significant design issue. The program has successfully proven that ETC technology is moving beyond the laboratory phase and is applicable to advanced weapon system development.

IMG_9010.jpgIMG_9011.jpgIMG_9012.jpg
 
Anything to do with these rounds seems to be hard to get hold of especially in the UK so I couldn't resist this when it became available.

Dave.

IMG_1799.jpgIMG_1800.jpgIMG_1801.jpg
 
I ended up buying a projectile from the same guy I got the base from, "Cannonman" on gunbroker.
Now I'm looking for help from you guys as I can't find anything at all about the ammunition for this weapon. All google searches either lead to the links above or this one on BOCN!
The closest I can find is the following research paper:
https://fas.org/irp/agency/dod/jason/etcgun.pdf

Projectile length 285mm
Diameter 59mm

I have definied the "top part" as the shorter section that screws over the "lower part".
Length of top part 130mm
Weight of top part 1.35kg
Diameter of cavity top part 45mm
Depth of cavity top part 120mm

I have defined "lower part" as the longer piece with the external screw thread. It appears to have a crimping groove.
Length of lower part 167 mm
Weight of lower part 2.05kg
Diameter of cavity lower part 38mm
Depth of cavity lower part 150mm
Diameter at screw thread 50mm

Complete projectile.
IMG_1903.JPG

Unscrewed to show top and lower parts.
IMG_1898.jpgIMG_1900.jpg

Close up of screw thread that joins the 2 parts together
IMG_1899.jpg

I assume the narrow section is where a driving band would have once fitted but have no documented evidence to prove this assumption.

There are no markings or stamping's on the projectile.

All INERT

Dave.
 
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