Demonstration of the Navy Electromagnetic Rail Gun prototype

The US Navy's Electromagnetic Rail Gun that is under development at NSWC Dahlgren in Virginia. This is a prototype to demonstrate the technology of the rail gun for use on the future DDG-1000 class of Navy ships. This clip is from the show FutureWeapons on the Discovery Channel. It aired in April 2007. The show occasionally repeats on the Military Channel (part of the Discovery Channel family). (NOTE - This has nothing to do with the movie Transformers 2.)

Category:

Science & Technology

Tags:

• navy
• nswc
• dahlgren
• electromagnetic
• rail
• gun
• railgun
• future
• weapons
• futureweapons
• ddg-1000

[hypergap]

Dear Santa...

[lourke123]

Next up, laser rifles. Star Wars, just wait. We're getting there.

[AlphahawkA25]

i'd hate to be standing around in a military base when all of a sudden it starts raining supersonic bbs!

[ahvlog]

how to ruin a terriosts day shoot him with ......... MEGA SHOT GUN

[Ryagful]

well yes. the huge heat would melt off the projectile. that's why you need to use something dense and with a high melting point, like Tungsten. that way, it will last longer. of course, you only need to worry about that in the atmosphere of a planet. in a vacuum, that problem just goes away...mostly

[Ryagful]

right. actually, kinetic weapons, aka "primitive projectile weapons" is far more safe, reliable, and frankly energy efficient. a plasma weapon would be HUGE! you need a huge reactor to create the plasma, you need a specific gas (hydrogen would do) and really, really big amounts of energy. not only that, once fired it would incinirate the surrounding area since, you know, plasma isn't a solid state and would just go in all directions. now, antimatter bombs...

[therealcod6rocks123]

One day we will have pistols that can do this... don't believe me? look at the calculator

[viliboy]

waiting for the mobile version..

[21stcenturyissues]

They definitely need to be looking ahead and into plasma weaponry. Projectile weaponry is considered quite primitive IMO.

[Colt45hatchback]

wouldn't the projectile melt during its journey to the other ship or whatever they are firing at?

I'm no scientist, but i think, the heat generated by the air friction of travelling at 5000 mph or whatever, would melt it to some degree, and cause it to either distort its shape, and alter its trajectory, or slowly disintegrate during travel to its destination.

[slatz20]

Railgun will never be real...far too expensive...

[panzeraid]

And this is only the stuff they show us...