Blitzer railgun demo at US Army MFIX
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems (GA-EMS) successfully demonstrated its Blitzer electromagnetic railgun at the US Army’s annual Maneuver and Fires Integration Experiment (MFIX), the company announced on 25 April.
MFIX is an annual exercise that brings together military and industry partners to inform requirements, validate/refine concepts, address capability gaps, and assess solutions for incorporation into the future army warfighting assessments.
During the event, the railgun was fired eleven times at a target at a greater range than previous firings. Following the completion of the experiment, the railgun will be transported to the Dugway Proving Ground in Utah for further testing later in 2016.
Nick Bucci, vice president, missile defense and space systems, GA-EMS, said: ‘This event marks another milestone for our railgun team. After the successful test firings of our guidance electronics units at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah one month ago, we disassembled the Blitzer railgun system and transported it to Fort Sill where it was set-up and fired during the MFIX event.
‘Our goal was met in showing how our advanced weapon system can be efficiently transported from site to site. Testing our system under real world conditions at different locales enables us to gather the critical data necessary to improve the system’s efficiency to meet future customer mobility requirements.’
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