Navy Railgun

[Rock]

What do you think of the U.S. Navy's railgun, this weapon is an absolute BEAST! The weapon will fires a heavy metal projective at up to mach 7 (different tests with different types have shown different results), which means that the projectile would be able to reach a mile out in under a second!

Here is one of the test videos:

 

[ke gordon]

Well it looks like a mighty powerful weapon. It seems like something the navy might need in order t keep oppopenents at bay. It looks like it creates a powerful blast and one that would send opponents reeling.

 

[Susimi]

It looks like it can pack one hell of a punch!

Does it, or will it, carry explosive or armour piercing ammunition or does it all work on kinetic energy damage alone?

 

[Gasoline]

It's promising project !

The problem is that it require a lot of energy .

It looks like it can pack one hell of a punch!



Does it, or will it, carry explosive or armour piercing ammunition or does it all work on kinetic energy damage alone?

It doesn't carry explosives. It's use the Kinetic energy, we have here a 7 mach speed and heavy projectile = terrible damage

 

[davm92]

That looks beautiful. Shoot one of those to the enemy lines and they won't even know what hited them.
I wonder if the same principle can be used in spacecraft.

 

[Tanis]

The US Navy's railgun project is honestly at the forefront of weapon development right now. Energy requirements are absolutely no problem with the prevalence of nuclear reactor-fitted warships using this. A nuclear reactor aboard a modern warship won't even notice the firing of this weapon.

What this weapon does bring is strength, reach, price and safety. The projectile's impact is comparable to a cruise missile strike, but is significantly cheaper. It has extreme potential for long-ranged damage and fair precision and on top of that, there is no need to waste large amounts of space storing explosive propellant base weaponry like there are today.

The only real concerns for the project are apparently cooling the rails and wear and tear on the rails.