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A First Look at America's Supergun

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SocksAndShoes

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DAHLGREN, Va.—A warning siren bellowed through the concrete bunker of a top-secret Naval facility where U.S. military engineers prepared to demonstrate a weapon for which there is little defense.

Officials huddled at a video screen for a first look at a deadly new supergun that can fire a 25-pound projectile through seven steel plates and leave a 5-inch hole.

The weapon is called a railgun and requires neither gunpowder nor explosive. It is powered by electromagnetic rails that accelerate a hardened projectile to staggering velocity—a battlefield meteorite with the power to one day transform military strategy, say supporters, and keep the U.S. ahead of advancing Russian and Chinese weaponry.

In conventional guns, a bullet loses velocity from the moment the gunpowder ignites and sends it flying. The railgun projectile instead gains speed as it travels the length of a 32-foot barrel, exiting the muzzle at 4,500 miles an hour, or more than a mile a second.

“This is going to change the way we fight,” said U.S. Navy Adm. Mat Winter, the head of the Office of Naval Research.
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http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/faster-than-a-speeding-bullet-a-first-look-at-americas-supergun/ar-BBtyPuZ?li=BBnbfcL&ocid=mailsignout

Tesla tanks are next you guys.
 
So, uh, I guess the next round of defensive technology is not getting hit?

Can pretty easily imagine what this would do to a human down the sights... and it's not pretty.
 
EraserRA5.jpg
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Althane said:
So, uh, I guess the next round of defensive technology is not getting hit?

Can pretty easily imagine what this would do to a human down the sights... and it's not pretty.
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Pretty sure its not anything... because they would cease to exist.

This thing could probably tear through a line of tanks and/or buildings and/or anything in front of it
 
What's the use case for this?

It doesn't cause massive area damage, right? Is it a super powered ultra sniper rifle? A battleship destroyer?

It's confusing me.

Edit:

The Navy developed the railgun as a potent offensive weapon to blow holes in enemy ships, destroy tanks and level terrorist camps. The weapon system has the attention of top Pentagon officials also interested in its potential to knock enemy missiles out of the sky more inexpensively and in greater numbers than current missile-defense systems—perhaps within a decade.
 
"Can I get this to defend my family? I need it for when the US army comes to take my regular guns with their tanks and drones." -NRA, 2016

On topic: holy shit that's a big gun.
 
Woah they finally managed to make a real railgun, i was pretty sure they were far off from becoming a reality. i think this is huge.
 
Graffgor said:
What's the use case for this?

It doesn't cause massive area damage, right? Is it a super powered ultra sniper rifle? A battleship destroyer?

It's confusing me.
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Anything that you hit with this is going to stop where it is and probably not work again

When these become more efficient / smaller... pretty much nothing will be able to stand in the way
 
I thought the problem with railguns was you could only fire them a few times before they fell apart due to the crazy stress the parts are placed under to fire. Is that solved?
 
Althane said:
So, uh, I guess the next round of defensive technology is not getting hit?

Can pretty easily imagine what this would do to a human down the sights... and it's not pretty.
Click to expand...

You're probably imagining something like what 20mm and 30mm do to a person. This would just make a person disappear.
 
dankir said:
I'd say turn them into fine red mist.
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Wonder what the AoE is on this. If it flew right past your head, what would the damage be?

Thinking about it though, I wonder if it would just sort of pulverize your whole body, or just punch a hole through you. Obviously the kinetic shock is going to kill you one way or the other, but would the result be a mist, a jellified human, or someone with a hole punched in them like out of Kung Pow: Enter the Fist?
 
Graffgor said:
What's the use case for this?

It doesn't cause massive area damage, right? Is it a super powered ultra sniper rifle? A battleship destroyer?

It's confusing me.

Edit:

The Navy developed the railgun as a potent offensive weapon to blow holes in enemy ships, destroy tanks and level terrorist camps. The weapon system has the attention of top Pentagon officials also interested in its potential to knock enemy missiles out of the sky more inexpensively and in greater numbers than current missile-defense systems—perhaps within a decade.
Click to expand...

One day once technology advances enough you could probably hit missiles out of the sky for something as basic as a large bullet.
 
If it travels that far without losing velocity you've really got to be careful what's behind the thing they're targeting.
 
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