U.S. Navy Testing Shiny New 32-Megajoule Railgun Prototype - richardwhichosedn

More than anything, the ambition of the military's top scientists has to be loved. From modern inaccessible-priest-ridden robots to transonic cannons to laser beams, weaponized fight is starting to look less like Call of Duty and more like the Halo franchise. Now, the U.S. Navy is fetching a intrepid step into the explosive future with electricity, or more specifically, heavy magnetism railguns.

Pumped-up UK and Gizmag bring news that BAE Systems' multi-year EM railgun project is finally in more advanced examination stages, with a sword-new epitome that can give the axe a loading to a higher degree eight times faster than the speed of sound. For context, Wired Great Britain tells information technology to us in striking-however-direful numerical item.

Electromagnetic railguns uses electricity instead of chemicals (like powder) to incit projectiles. Magnetised fields, created by high electrical currents, speed a slippy metal conductor between two rails to launch projectiles at 7,200 km/h to 9,000 km/h… The ultimate goal of the project is to be competent to fire projectiles 50- to 100-nautical miles (with expansion up to 220 nautical miles), which would be suitable for service surface fire underpin, land strikes, cruise and ballistic missile defence, and surface war.

Of track, that's not going to be the only ridiculously explosive futuristic carom on the block, arsenic defense contractor General Atomics is already alcoholic at make for prepping a second railgun epitome for the U.S. Navy. Right now, the major hurdle preventing American battleships from toting these babies is the packaging. Not only does BAE's current model take too much time to reload, but the gun for hire gets way too tasty to sustain a becoming ignition rate.

At its current state, though, the 32-megajoule output signal is pretty advanced by advanced field standards. Atomic number 3 The Register helpfully explains, just a sole megajoule represents a short ton of energy, equivalent to the force of a railroad car moving at a 100 mph. Backpacking 32 times that much power into an electrically-effervescent cannon requires a lot of outdoor casing and active cooling, which largely contributes to the weapon's Brobdingnagian bulk.

For the nonce, if you happen to live or so Dahlgren, Virginia, don't be alarmed if you get wind Earth-shakiness, tragedy explosions now and then. Information technology's probably but the Naval Surface Warfare Center playing with their new toy with. Invest in soundproofing.

[Billet of Naval Research via Gizmag, The Register, Connected UK; Ikon via U.S. Navy]

William McKinley Noble is a old GamePro stave editor program, up-to-date technology nerd and eternal mixed soldierly arts partisan. He also likes Japanese sports dramas and Georgia home boy operas. Follow him on Twitter or just Google his name.