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I've noticed there is no repository for ballistic science documents the way there is for the Mechanized or the infantry forums (for example) so I decided to fix this. My first offering is dtic stuff from the past on some weird and novel ways to extend the L/D ratios of spin stabilized projectiles. I originally learned about this from someone I was having a discussion with years back and hunting lead me to one of those discussions about bringing back the battleships on navweaps discussion boards where one of the posters (Zenmastur) laid out his master plan for Battleship resurrection. Which included the aforementioned 'higher than 6:1 L/D ratio spin stabilized projectiles'. It took awhile to hunt down but I eventually found some of the original documents that focused on novel projectile shapes (for a large improvement) and non-conical boat tails (for a much smaller improvement) Obviously this went nowhere insofar as I am aware, and I suspect they had drawbacks nobody addressed (like most do) but it's an interesting thing to look at anyhow. Much of this is the work of one Anders S. Platou, who seems to be as prolific as the RAVEN guy. AN IMPROVED PROJECTILE BOATTAIL AN IMPROVED PROJECTILE BOATTAIL. PART II. Improving the Flight Performance of Projectiles MUZZLE-BLAST-INDUCED TRAJECTORY PERTURBATION OF NONCONICAL AND CONICAL BOATTAIL PROJECTILES THE EFFECT OF VARIOUS BOATTAIL SHAPES ON BASE PRESSURE AND OTHER AERODYNAMIC CHARACTERISTICS OF A 7-CALIBER LONG BODY OF REVOLUTION AT M = 1.70 YAWSONDE FLIGHTS OF 155MM NON-CONICAL BOATTAIL PROJECTILES AND THE 155MM M549 PROJECTILE AT TONOPAH TEST RANGE-OCTOBER 1977 YAWSONDE FLIGHTS OF 155MM NON-CONICAL BOATTAIL PROJECTILE-B CONFIGURATIONS AT TONOPAH TEST RANGE--MARCH 1978 AEROBALLISTICS OF 9ORKSCRE1 PROJECTILES (12 page document) AEROBALLISTICS OF CORKSCREW PROJECTILES (36 page document)

Been delayed with stuff but I've wanted to post this. Actually I'm surprised I've never seen anything in detail about this before, because it's an interesting topic. (IF there IS a topic on this I apologize and it can be merged there.) ETC tech is something you probably hear about if you hang out on tank, military or gun forums. Especially if Railguns or coilguns are mentioned. Or 'next step' in gun design like 140-152mm guns. There's lots of information out there if you look and you discover just how diverse it can be. I'm sure most people are aware that Wikipedia has a article on ETC tech and as far as Wiki articles go it's decent. But the person who worked on it in the past also wrote an article on ETC for the Nationstates draft room. It's old but still good. So despite the origins it's still useful (the writer was also a member on Tanknet IIRC. Take that as you will.) In Jane's Technology of Tanks, Ogorkiewicz also commented about ETC: Ogorkiewicz also discusses the concept in Tanks: 100 years of evolution: One realization from this is ET/ETC technology is quite diverse and can be confusing. One of the better sources covering that concerned Rheinmetall research into a German 120-140mm (courtesy of Wayback because the original source fell to link rot): Link to image of Rheinmetall ETC classifcations On the amateur experime which discusses ET/ETC stuff in detail too. If you prefer the more 'hype' side of things, ETC was also tied to the Future Combat Systems - a link some people may recognize: As you can see, ETC is evolutionary not revolutionary like EM guns. It takes existing technology and builds on it: You can settle for improving propellant ignition (minimizing electrical cost) or add electricity to boost performance (up to the 'pure' ETC idea) You can also utilize the technology on Liquid propellant and possibly even Light Gas guns - it stacks quite nicely with other ideas. You can even use it with a bigger caliber. This is part of the ETC charm. Further information on ETC stuff can be found here: AN END-TO-END MODEL OF AN ELECTROTHERMAL CHEMICAL GUN Electro-Thermal Chemical Gun Technology Study Both of these are articles I like, but there's more stuff: Electrothermal-Chemical (ETC) Technology Weaponization Issues Electrothermal-Chemical Gun Systems Utilizing Novel Electric Solid Propellants And of course DTIC is a wealth of ETC stuff: (direct pdf links): Overview on the German R&D Programs on ETC Gun Technologies for Main Battletank Weaponization ELECTROTHERMAL-CHEMICAL PROPULSION AND PERFORMANCE LIMITS FOR THE 120-MM, M256 CANNON And some dtic links to ETC stuff that requires download: Electrothermal-Chemical (ETC) Propulsion with High Loading Density Charges. Ballistic Analysis of Electrothermal-Chemical (ETC) Propellant. Trade-Offs in Performance Enhancement of Solid-Propellant (SP) Electrothermal-Chemical Guns. Sturgeon's House user sevich also posted a link to a useful ETC document off ditc here

http://navy-matters.blogspot.ca/2015/05/combat-mcm.html A rather long, but interesting essay on Naval Mine Clearing in varying environments. Interesting evaluation of USN capeabilities. I'd like to hear peoples thoughts on this, and possible concepts for moving forward.