Operation of a railgun accelerator for solid projectiles powered from an explosive MHD generator

These authors investigate the possibility of using an explosive MHD generator whose electrodes consist of the rails of a railgun accelerator so that the projectile is anitially accelerated by the action of electromagnetic forces and then, once the gas-cumulative jets reach the body, it can be subjected to additional acceleration by the gas flow moving at a high rate of speed. They conclude that the proposed compounded electrodynamic and gasdynamic acceleration scheme holds promise for achieving velocities in the 5-10 km/sec range