Railgun

[Overflow]

Cool!

[shank0668]

'Merica

[Iwantone2]

Originally Posted by shank0668

'Murica

Fixed

[ShnOmac]

Another rail gun test....

http://www.military.com/video/guns/n.../904431955001/

[Rhyder]

holy smack...0 elevation and the thing went 7 kilometers down range?

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by Rhyder

holy smack...0 elevation and the thing went 7 kilometers down range?

Mach 5 or 6...wow.

[Silverlsinva]

That would be awesome for a Navy ship or a tank or in my back yard.

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by Silverlsinva

That would be awesome for a Navy ship or a tank or in my back yard.

Home defense, aimed at the front door.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

Mach 5 or 6...wow.

It's pretty awesome that he could say Mach 5 give or take another mach.

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by Camaro_Corvette

It's pretty awesome that he could say Mach 5 give or take another mach.

Thing is, I could see them developing this technology. With more power and a longer barrel, I wonder how far a large heavy object could be shot with one of those (not at a 0 degree angle). Implications are pretty staggering, when you think about it.

Next steps would be for a quick way to load, so these could fire a round a second, or perhaps even faster. As an Anti Aircraft/Missile gun or something, lol.

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

Thing is, I could see them developing this technology. With more power and a longer barrel, I wonder how far a large heavy object could be shot with one of those (not at a 0 degree angle). Implications are pretty staggering, when you think about it.

Next steps would be for a quick way to load, so these could fire a round a second, or perhaps even faster. As an Anti Aircraft/Missile gun or something, lol.

Yeah, but what happens to the Mach 5 or so object at a higher angle after it passes through said aircraft? either one of two things, it will continue into outer space and become a martian problem, or it will come back down to earth becoming our problem.

[Steve Dallas]

Originally Posted by Camaro_Corvette

Yeah, but what happens to the Mach 5 or so object at a higher angle after it passes through said aircraft? either one of two things, it will continue into outer space and become a martian problem, or it will come back down to earth becoming our problem.

Not a problem if it exits the atmosphere...that way you ensure it doesn't come back to earth and hurt someone. So build it that powerful...to be safe!

[Camaro_Corvette]

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

Not a problem if it exits the atmosphere...that way you ensure it doesn't come back to earth and hurt someone. So build it that powerful...to be safe!

Agreed. Moar power! Safety is # 1.

[DGthe3]

Originally Posted by Steve Dallas

Thing is, I could see them developing this technology. With more power and a longer barrel, I wonder how far a large heavy object could be shot with one of those (not at a 0 degree angle). Implications are pretty staggering, when you think about it.

Next steps would be for a quick way to load, so these could fire a round a second, or perhaps even faster. As an Anti Aircraft/Missile gun or something, lol.

A few hundred miles, easily.

They're not really well suited for hitting aircraft. One of the good things about using explosive warheads is that you don't need to get a 'skin on skin' kill, where missile makes direct contact with the target. As long as you get close enough, the shrapnel will tear up the control surfaces or other important bits. With a rail-gun you have no choice but to hit the target directly, which is really frikin' hard. Its kinda like going bird hunting with a sniper rifle (factiod: the term sniping derives from shooting birds with a rifle, in flight).

The killer app for railguns, in my opinion, would be as a bunker-buster. I don't know how many feet of earth or concrete a projectile could penetrate at mach 7, but I'm sure its more than enough to ruin somebodys day.