An Undocumented Worker
03-01-12, 22:05
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-uV1SbEuzFU&feature=player_embedded
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/railgun-real-gun/
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Video: Navy Fires Off Its New Weaponized Railgun
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author February 28, 2012 | 3:46 pm | Categories: Navy, Weapons and Ammo
| Edit
The Navy has spent seven years testing out the components of a way-futuristic weapon: a shipboard cannon that blasts bullets over vast distances at hypersonic speeds using bursts of electricity. But so far, that weapon, known as the Electromagnetic Railgun, has been more of a lab experiment than an honest-to-God weapon. It didn’t even have basic gun-like features, like a barrel. Now, however, the Navy is unveiling the first actual railgun guns, which it’ll test for another five years, in the hope of winning over legislators who consider it a waste of time, money and electricity.
The Navy released video of the first tests, viewable above, on Tuesday. The dramatic mini-inferno in the wake of the slug fired from the railgun is the result of “1 million amps flowing through” the gun, said test chief Tom Boucher, the hypersonic speed of the shot, and the actual aluminum of the bullet — “reactive in the atmosphere” — burning off.
read the whole story at the link
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/02/railgun-real-gun/
Danger Room What's Next in National Security Previous post Next post 56
inShare.
Video: Navy Fires Off Its New Weaponized Railgun
By Spencer Ackerman Email Author February 28, 2012 | 3:46 pm | Categories: Navy, Weapons and Ammo
| Edit
The Navy has spent seven years testing out the components of a way-futuristic weapon: a shipboard cannon that blasts bullets over vast distances at hypersonic speeds using bursts of electricity. But so far, that weapon, known as the Electromagnetic Railgun, has been more of a lab experiment than an honest-to-God weapon. It didn’t even have basic gun-like features, like a barrel. Now, however, the Navy is unveiling the first actual railgun guns, which it’ll test for another five years, in the hope of winning over legislators who consider it a waste of time, money and electricity.
The Navy released video of the first tests, viewable above, on Tuesday. The dramatic mini-inferno in the wake of the slug fired from the railgun is the result of “1 million amps flowing through” the gun, said test chief Tom Boucher, the hypersonic speed of the shot, and the actual aluminum of the bullet — “reactive in the atmosphere” — burning off.
read the whole story at the link