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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. 



