Norwegian Nammo-corporation develops a new solid-fuel ramjet-driven artillery shell along with many other defense contractors. The ramjet-driven GPS-guided grenades which range about 90-150 kilometers could be effective against things like TOS rocket launchers. The technology behind the GPS-guided grenades can connect to things like HiMARS heavy rocket launchers. And that thing gives them pinpoint accuracy.
The ramjet-driven ammunition is not a new idea. In 1915 Hungarian inventor Albert Fonó introduced the idea of ramjet-driven ammunition to increase the artillery range. This solution was far ahead of its time. In 1915 there was no GPS. And the development of solid chemicals that could use as ramjet fuel did not even begin.
And researchers forgot the ramjet-driven artillery ammunition for a while. In WWII some artillery systems used RAP (Rocket Assistant Projectiles) to increase their range. After the WWII. Ramjet engines are used in some missiles. And those engines are also introduced to use hypersonic cruise missiles.
The operational speed limit of the ramjet engine is about Mach 1 to Mach 6. Then the engineers must start to use a scramjet engine whose operational limits are from Mach 5 to Mach 20+. But also scramjet-driven systems can use ramjets to accelerate their speed to a level, where the scramjet can start.
The aircraft will accelerate to the speed of Mach 1 by using the regular turbojets. Then the ramjet engines will start to operate. And after the speed increases to Mach 5, the scramjets will start to operate. And they will increase the speed of the cruise system to levels, that are above Mach 10.
The ramjet-driven artillery shell uses solid fuel. That means the system takes oxygen from the air. And the friction of the air will start to burn the fuel inside grenades. The GPS-guidance systems are allowing to give those shells pinpoint accuracy. The GPS is not the only possibility to guide ammunition to the target. The ramjet engine can increase the range of the shell by about 100 kilometers. The range of the newest GPS-guided M-982 "Excalibur" ammunition is a maximum of 70 kilometers. The elder version range is 20-40 kilometers. The record of the 155 mm. grenade is about 76 kilometers. And the ramjet system can extend that range to 100 kilometers.
But the range of that shell depends on its caliber, the aerodynamic property, and the used fuel. The thing is that the artillery shell is quite easy to accelerate to the speed that is about Mach 1. The thing is that if the 155 mm. ramjet-driven GPS-guided ammunition is successful. Theoretically, that thing gives M-777 field howitzers the range of 100-170 kilometers if the ramjet engine gives 100 kilometers more operational range for that system.
The GPS-guided ramjet-driven ammunition can also use with new magnetic railguns that are under development. In those large-caliber systems, the magnetic accelerator is connected with the barrel of the regular howitzers. The large-size ammunition can accelerate by using magnetic accelerators to a speed that is much higher than using just only regular grenades.
The range of those systems with ramjet-driven grenades could be over 200 kilometers. But those numbers are purely theoretical.
https://www.defensenews.com/digital-show-dailies/dsei/2019/09/10/the-real-reason-why-nammo-rolled-out-a-ramjet-artillery-concept/
https://defense-update.com/20191127_long_range_artillery.html
https://www.wionews.com/india-news/iit-m-working-on-next-gen-ramjet-powered-155mm-artillery-shells-for-indian-army-282090
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M777_howitzer
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M982_Excalibur
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ramjet
Image:) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M777_howitzer
https://realityisthinking.blogspot.com/
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