Ballistic Rail Gun Soft Recovery Facility

The Ballistic Rail Gun Soft Recovery Facility accommodates a 155mm Howitzer, fired horizontally into a 104-foot long water trough to slow the projectile and recover the payload undamaged. Experimental items are loaded into the 155mm projectile and fired with energetic propellant to experience the in bore setback, acceleration and spin of a typical projectile firing. Spin can be minimized by the use of the slip obturator to simulate smoothbore environments. The projectile is recovered intact in the water trough within five (5) minutes of firing. This facility is used to evaluate projectiles, mine components, telemetry packages, components for guidance systems, whole guidance systems, fuzes, and fuze components.