Not Your Father’s Light Gas Gun

Photo of LLNLLight Gas Gun

SolidPropellant

Piston Projectile

H2

Up to 400 calibers

Hydrogen/Oxygen

Projectile

~ 38 to 70 calibers

Combustion Light Gas Gun

“The lighter propellant gases chase the projectile down-bore more efficiently!”

CLGG Benefits

•High velocity even with moderate tube lengths

•Infinite zoning

•Relatively low flame temperatures (long tube life)

•Lower operating pressures (lighter tubes)

•Lower acceleration on projectile

•Ability to produce propellant onsite

•Commonality of propellant across platforms

UTRON 300 Acre High Energy Range Facility

CLGG Development• CLGG technology has been under development

for 15 years. • This 45mm has been operational for 8 years• Autoloader added to 45mm recently

Combustion Control – Pressure Shape

5 10 15 20

Time (ms)

40

10

20

60

50

30

Pres

sure

(kps

i)

Shot B

Shot A

Same Chemical Energy, Same Projectile Mass, Different Chemistry

0

Demonstrated performance gains for a broad range of projectile masses

45mm Performance

45-mm Experiments

Mass kg

Velocitym/s

0.200 28100.544 21001.100 17003.365 878

155 mm CLGG 5 shots with up to 17 MJ muzzle energy to date, A fraction of its capability, tests are ongoing

Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) Benchmarking

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8Time (ms)

45 mm gun E = 4 MJ Projectile Mass = 0.52 kg'Experimental_shot_27'

'Computation_run_41_004'

35000

30000

25000

20000

15000

10000

50001 2 3 5 6 7 840

Cha

mbe

r Pre

ssur

e (p

si)

Time (ms)

Experimental

CFD

Computational Fluid Dynamics

Simulation of 155mm CLGG Test (4 frames from sequence)

25000

30000

35000

40000

45000

50000

1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

110000

60 80 100 120 140 160 180 200 220 240

'100_Calibres''70_Calibres''70_Calibres'

'100_Calibres'

25000

30000

35000

40000

1600 1800 2000 2200 2400 2600 2800

90

50

80

70

60

10060 100 220180140

45000

Proj

ectil

e A

ccel

erat

ion

(gee

s)

Max

imum

Cha

mbe

r Pre

ssur

e (k

psi)Range Nautical Miles/km

Projectile Velocity (m/s)

70 calibertube

100 calibertube

150 220 300 370

155mm Performance with 21 kg Low Drag Projectile

Long Range Shore Support Predictions

Notional Long Range Projectile – Navy Barrage Round

Extreme Range Artillery Predictions with 45 kg Projectile

0

Range - Nautical Miles/km

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 2200 0

20

40

60

80

100

'52_Calibres''39_Calibres'

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

0

20

100

80

60

40'100_Calibres'

'70_Calibres''52_Calibres''39_Calibres' C

ham

ber P

ress

ure

(kps

i)

Peak

Acc

eler

atio

n (g

’s)

Velocity

600 800 1000 1200 1400 1600 1800 2000 22002620 3940 5250 65601970 3280 4600 5900 7220 ft/s

m/s

39 52 70 100Tube Length in Calibers

52 69 90 110

24

213

155mm – 100 lb Projectile

Range in kmM549 R off

• CLGG Range 200 + km• Conventional Gun Range 30 km

Large Circle – Footprint of Single CLGG GunSmall Circle - Footprint of Conventional Solid PropellantIt would take ~ 50 conventional guns to cover the area of one CLGG

Performance Example

Hydrogen can be reformed from many feed stocksDiesel Reforming (e.g. Navy Fuel Cell Program)Natural gasElectrolysis

Oxygen can be manufactured in a number of ways.By product from hydrogen productionCryogenic liquefactionAir membrane reactor

StorageGasCryogenics

CLGG technology offers the potential for propellant production as needed to meet mission requirements, on board ship or in the battle space.

Propellant Production

Notional Ship with CLGG Gun and Propellant ProductionEquipment Installed

Machinery is commercially available

CLGG Applications

Long to Extreme Range Artillery (Navy & Army)Light Weight Direct FireShip and Land Based Missile DefenseOther