Railguns.
You might remember I previously posted on the Navy’s programs on rail guns. Well, they continue testing these things and it was recently time to test the BAE test bed.
Well, the Office of Naval Research has begun test firing BAE’s new 32-megajoule railgun and we’ve got the video to prove it. Remember, the Navy wants a 20 to 32 megajoule railgun that can fire a projectile at speeds of up to 5,600 miles per hour over distances of 50 to 100 nautical miles. The Navy’s standard five-inch gun has a range of about 13 miles and can fire 20-rounds per minute, according to ONR officials.
I think that this may be the replacement for the old 16″ guns from the Battleships of WWII. Keeping enough electricity on hand to power these magnets is going to be a challenge. Especially if you have a whole bunch of rail guns of various sizes all over the ship. These are so cool though.
Now if I just had my flying saucer car.