Navy’s Electromagnetic Railgun Weapon Technology

The United States Navy has developed an innovative weapon system called the railgun which uses technology that borders on what many might think of as science fiction. The railgun weapon technology uses electromagnetic energy to launch a projectile out of a cannon like artillery barrel at speeds exceeding Mach 7 (8046.72 meters a second or 5,328.45 mph).

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According to the project manager for NAVSEA PMS 405, Captain Mike Ziv, the railgun has the ability to go from 0 to 5,000 miles per hour in about one one-hundreth (1/100th) of a second. Although the technology is not new and has been in testing phases for several years, the U.S. Navy is preparing to begin tests with the weapon system mounted on ships in 2016 before seeing combat deployment.

-TechHYDRA