Archive image from page 155 of Dahlgren (1977). Dahlgren dahlgren00mcco Year: 1977 146 Dahlgren might end up with an 8-inch guided projectile and no gun to shoot it, but that didn't slow us down because we had faith that we could eventually evolve the projectile into a smaller round. There was even the possibility that it could be done for a 3-inch round, but there's a lot of doubt in people's minds as to whether it would be worthwhile to guide a 3-inch projectile because of the size of the warhead. There are missiles that small, but still there's a lot of doubt. Anyway, we started pursuing
Archive image from page 155 of Dahlgren (1977). Dahlgren dahlgren00mcco Year: 1977 146 Dahlgren might end up with an 8-inch guided projectile and no gun to shoot it, but that didn't slow us down because we had faith that we could eventually evolve the projectile into a smaller round. There was even the possibility that it could be done for a 3-inch round, but there's a lot of doubt in people's minds as to whether it would be worthwhile to guide a 3-inch projectile because of the size of the warhead. There are missiles that small, but still there's a lot of doubt. Anyway, we started pursuing the 8-inch guided projectile using the laser approach, and that was the initial work that was done here at Dahlgren. We had that thing flying satisfactorily within 18 months after we started work with Lafferty. The first successful demonstration was done on March 12, 1971. This was the first one that worked, and we had fired, I think, a couple before we got one to work. Can you describe some of the ideas behind the development of lightweight guns? One of the ideas, at least, was light weight itself. The mounts were entirely too heavy. That was one of the big complaints from the people supporting missiles. They were saying we can't have guns, not only because you can't hit anything with them, but because they're so big and heavy. Another idea behind light- weight guns was to bring guns into action again by giving them modern electronics and reliability. Primarily, the reliability factor in the lightweight gun itself was the main driving force behind it. It was a very successful development. The 5'/54 MARK 45 weighed about 50,000 pounds as compared with its 8-inch guided projectile with canards extended.
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