Navy 'Rail Gun' On Track; Industry Tests Set For This Month

[Seth]

So is this the electromagnetically accelerated munitions thing I read about in science fiction decades ago, or some other technology?

Exactly that. The problem has been how to generate and deliver the massive amounts of electricity needed to move a large magnetic object down the rails at the speeds called for. Both the current and the timing are not as easy to manage as science fiction writers thought way back when. Not sure if they are using superconductors, but I suspect they are.

[JacksSmirkingRevenge]

How long before someone develops a fuck-off magnet that catches the shells and throws them back, I wonder?

[Thinking Aloud]

That's not a rail gun; this is a rail gun.

[Bella Fortuna]

Thanks, Crocodile Dundee...

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's not a rail gun; this is a rail gun.

Didn't even have to look at the file name. That's the gun that fired this round:

[Gawdzilla Sama]

That's not a rail gun; this is a rail gun.

Didn't even have to look at the file name. That's the gun that fired this round:




280mm Atomic Cannon by Nevada Tumbleweed (Mark Holloway), on Flickr

[Gawdzilla Sama]

And naturally, Flicker is fucking up again.

280mm Atomic Cannon

GRABLE EVENT - Part of Operation Upshot-Knothole, was a 15-kiloton test fired from a 280-mm cannon on May 25, 1953 at the Nevada Proving Grounds. Frenchman's Flat, Nevada - Atomic Cannon TestHistory's first atomic artillery shell fired from the Army's new 280-mm artillery gun. Hundreds of high ranking Armed Forces officers and members of Congress are present. The fireball ascending.
DATE: 5/25/1953