US Navy Tests Supersonic Heavy Gun Firing Electromagnetic-Propelled Shells @ Mach 7

'a game-changer'

British multinational BAE Systems has developed a functioning prototype of a new artillery piece for the US Navy's testing purposes, and what it does is propel a specially-designed shell to high supersonic velocities (cca 5600 mph) via powerful magnetic rails. At Mach 7, the projectile arrives almost three times as fast as the Navy's current big guns can deliver one, and at an astonishing range of 50-100 nautical miles.

Considering that today's naval artillery can reach only about
15 mi -and that long-range cruise missiles poke-along at a leisurely 550mph- it's easy to see how the daunting new weapon is already being called 'a game-changer'. Other uses quickly come to mind, such as the land, air, or sea-based anti-missile defense systems for which it seems manifestly suited: paired to real-time drone/satellite intelligence and laser-guidance, there's probably not much a handful of these couldn't stop.

Some experts feel the new gun wouldn't even need to employ explosive shells, as a large chunk of metal arriving at over five thousand miles per hour should obliterate pretty much anything that happens to be sitting on Point B:

-click to enlarge-

The USN has already spent seven years and $200M+ on development, with further funding still at the whim of the current US administration, be it a new Republican WH or -heaven forbid- another 4 years of steep decline under the Obammunists. 

A second variation on the theme is about to be delivered to the Navy by competing contractor General Atomics. , and while the (first) BAE gun seems to be performing well as a weapon, residual engineering challenges mostly concern building practical durability into such a mind-bogglingly powerful device... a task that is likely to take a few more years. Various cooling systems are being experimented with at this point in the development cycle, the goal being a capability of 10 rounds/min without melting the hyper-stressed barrel... at a range of up to
200 nautical miles (!)

This of course comes at a perfect time for the US, as China seems determined to build a blue-water navy to challenge American naval supremacy, missile proliferation continues to run rampant, and the Iranian Navy -as always- could use a sinkin.

Yet hard to believe Obama hasn't tried to cancel this thing yet-
so noisy, unpleasant, polluting, and just mean... who needs that!

British Forces News   The Telegraph   LiveLeak    Fellowship of the Minds

USN magnetic Navy supergun testing mach 7