Recoil considerations for railguns

The firing of any gun, electromagnetic or otherwise, imparts substantial momentum to the launcher, and ultimately the weapon platform. The objectives of the future combat system program call for similar lethality to a current heavy tank on an extremely lightweight vehicle of nominally twenty tons. Prior experience with the M551 Sheridan, a light tank first put into production by the United States in 1966, raises concern that firing large caliber armaments from light vehicles may result in unacceptable crew discomfort and vehicular reaction during recoil. It is the purpose of this paper to provide a future combat system armament integration perspective for railgun recoil.