The U.S. Navy ran a test on Thursday of the world's most powerful electromagnetic railgun. The test, which launched a specially designated projectile at a velocity of 5,600 miles per hour, marks the latest step in American efforts to develop a futuristic naval gun. The aim of the gun's development is to hit a target more than 200 nautical miles away with a non-explosive projectile traveling at between five and seven times the speed of sound. Instead of chemical propellants, the railgun uses electromagnetic energy to propel what they call a slug along rails before launching it at incredible speeds, officials said. “The gun is designed to launch these projectiles extremely far, somewhere in the neighborhood of 200 nautical miles, and their impact velocity is extremely high…So it is an extremely fast moving, long range system,” said Jim Boyle, a spokesman for the Office of Naval Research. Although the $237 million program to adopt such weapons is still in its initial phases, the U.S. Navy believes that even using the electric power technology on warships is likely in the future. A working railgun would allow warships to operate a greater distances from their targets, and improve safety and storage space on board ships by doing away with explosive warheads and propellants. Some experts believe railguns also might be useful in targeting ballistic missiles.
