Navy develops 8-Megajoule railgun

[Tyreal]

Navy develops 8-Megajoule railgun

The mere mention of the word brings back visions of the original first-person-shooters to grace our now-antiquated machines, and now the US Navy is getting real personal with a realized version of the pixelated railgun we all love and adore. Presumably ripped straight from the (admittedly lacking) storyline of Quake, an 8-Megajoule railgun has been officially created, fired, and deemed worthy of flanking our naval ships, which should strike fear in the hearts of anyone wishing us harm. The gun was showcased this week at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Virginia, and utilizes massive quantities of electricity rather than gunpowder to propel "nonexplosive projectiles at incredible speeds." The weapon is powerful enough to equal the damage inflicted by a Tomahawk cruise missile, and the device's project director compared the impact to hitting a solid object "going 380 miles-per-hour in a Ford Taurus." Moreover, the railgun touts a 200 to 250 nautical-mile range, compared to the 15 nautical-mile range that current five-inch guns sport now. Interestingly, the weapon should "only" cost around $1,000 per shot once loaded onboard, which is chump change compared to the cool million that vanishes each time a cruise missile is deployed, and if everything goes as planned, we'll be seeing a 32-Megajoule prototype in June, with a 64-Megajoule rendition adorning our ships by 2020.

Navy develops 8-Megajoule railgun, Nukem bows down - Engadget

What do you think?

By the way, the imagine in the link is misleading. A railgun looks nothing like that.

[Mithosphere]

i love that "going 380 miles-per-hour in a Ford Taurus." I mean they could have come up with atleast a more manly car/truck/supercar/supertruck than a crappy old ford taurus

[Zambini]

Dude. That's Nuts. Just think, soon we will have hand held railguns.

But just think, if they use these instead of cruise missiles (however they will manage) it could, theoretically, be cheaper.

I can't wait till I can use that to pwn seagulls that poop on my Jeep

[Cyberlon]

$1000 shot at a seagull? I hope your a good shot :-)
There wouldn't even be a fine red mist left of a seagull.

[gvblake22]

Originally Posted by Zambini

But just think, if they use these instead of cruise missiles (however they will manage) it could, theoretically, be cheaper.

Sweet, that means war will be even cheaper, now everyone can join in the fun!!

[Darkfry]

Sounds like its going to be quite destructive.

How do they know its like going 380mph in a ford Taurus ? they dont tend to go that fast. . . Maybe they could have compared to something , well anything else.


To finish my reply. . . I wanna shoot one !!!

Someone buy me one?

[stinger608]

Originally Posted by Darkfry

How do they know its like going 380mph in a ford Taurus ? they dont tend to go that fast

Yea, most Ford Taurus's are lucky to get out of the driveway at 5mph

[Zambini]

How do you double the value of a Taurus?

Fill up the tank

[Quakindude]

This is very interesting in light of China's new capabilities.

Things sure are getting hairy these days.

Oh, and when you take into account the kinetic damage a 3400 pound car like the Taurus could do to an object while traveling at 380+ MPH, then take into account it may have a sabot head with an explosive shaped charge underneath and you have the capability to literally break a destroyer class vessel in half with one well placed shot. As the power of these things increase, the sabot round used can have so many different types of underlaying payloads that detonate, break apart, penetrate, etc...that some well placed shots of a 3400 pound warhead traveling at 600MPH could take out a battleship in 2 or 3 well placed shots. Or an aircraft carrier. The rate of fire would be interesting to know as would the intended types of "rounds" they are going to use.

Take the Taurus out of it and just imagine what a 3400 pound object traveling at 380MPH could do to your home. Now imagine that object with a small yield tactical nuke or high explosive component under a sabot head and instead of just ripping half your house down, it detonates after penetration and takes out the whole house on up to a 5 square mile area.

If these are weapons we plan on using on the asshole Jihad extremists in Iraq, I'll go buy all the Taurus's at the local junk yard and donate them to the Navy.

[Lokie]

LOL! User Friendly posted a comic that reminded me of this thread.