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The Free Lance-Star newspaper is reporting that the Navy Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Virginia has successfully demonstrated an 8-megajoule electromagnetic rail gun. A 32-megajoule version is due to be tested in June. A 64-megajoule version is anticipated to extend the range of naval gunfire (currently about 15 nautical miles for a 5-inch naval gun) to more than 200 nautical miles by 2020. The projectiles are small, but go so fast that have enough kinetic punch to replace a Tomahawk missile at a fraction of the cost. In the final version, they will apex at 95 miles altitude, well into space.
The railgun works by sending electric current along parallel rails. It creates an electromagnetic force so powerful it can fire a metal projectile at tremendous speed.
Because the gun uses electricity, not gunpowder, to fire projectiles, it's safer, eliminating the possibility of explosions.
Instead of gunpowder, a powerful electric pulse generator is used.
The basic concept of the weapon demonstrated at Dahlgren yesterday may be familiar to many from science fiction.
Futuristic space man Buck Rogers used a sort of railgun in a sci-fi novel.
In the film "Eraser," Arnold Schwarzenegger uncovers a plot to sell a railgun to terrorists.
Railguns are also portrayed in the "Stargate" TV series and in many video games, including "Halo 2."
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