US's Ultra-Advanced Railgun Weapon Is Making All Others Obsolete

As dangerous threats to America's safety increase with each passing day, so does the need to combat any potential enemy.
For almost 20 years, a leading defense enterprise has been developing a prototype of a gunpowder-less weapon: the General Atomics electromagnetic railgun.
In a joint effort with the United States Navy, the device features electromagnetic launchers that use electric power instead of chemical propellants. That way, the Blitzer could fire projectiles at speeds never before seen in conventional weapons.
Despite its uncertain future and the potential involvement of the United States Army, these revolutionary railguns might just change the way America fights…

[@snoig1]

I worked on this stuff for ARDEC back in the 80's. So it's been around a lot longer than the video mentions. The concept is over 100 years old and they were doing research in Australia back in the 60's. The big problem now, as it was back then is rail wear. When you are sending a mega-amp of current across a sliding contact, things tend to melt. I hear that they have made progress in the last 40 years but going from single digit number of shots to tens of shots before rails needed to be replaced. As far as power requirements go, a modern Ford-class reactor will provide more than enough power. The Navy's latest ship concept is that everything runs on electricity (catapults, radar, jamming, communications, props) so you build a big reactor and switch power to where ever it it needed. A railgun fits in well with that design concept. The Ford A1B reactor can generate about 125 megawatts of electricity plus another 260 MW to the propeller shafts. A 30 megajoule gun would require around 9 kilowatt-hours for one shot. So even if you used 1/10 of the reactor electrical output you could still shoot about 1300 shots per hour. Even with other inefficiencies, I think 100 shots per hour would be reasonable with reactors we are using right now. And as far as the Chinese actually fielding a railgun? I'll believe that when I actually see it work for more than a few shots in an hour.

[@CharlesGaluski]

Couldn’t you apply some maglev or magnetic containment elements to keep the projectile from touching anything physical after loading to create frictionless firing?

[@weirddudes5543]

@@CharlesGaluski That's called a coil gun. And it's significantly more complex than railguns, needing a lot of electromagnetic coils powerful enough to accelerate a projectile quickly and timing mechanisms to make sure that once the projectile moves past a certain point the coil deactivates to make sure it doesn't slow the projectile down, as well as the other requirements of being an electromagnetic weapon. Coilguns do probably deserve their own research but with current technology(maybe something like room temp superconductors will make them more viable) they just can't keep up with their rail based cousins.

[@kurtru5selcrowe607]

Hi! I’m definitely not a Chinese scientist trying to build this so my family doesn’t die. But don’t the electro magnetic fields the gun generates interfere with ship systems around it?

[@comfortablynumb9342]

Thanks for the information

[@snoig1]

@@kurtru5selcrowe607 Yes, that's a real issue that we were looking at but our goal was to get the thing working. It's another reason why railguns may not be practical in combat. One theory from the USS Forrestal fire was that a jet going through a radar beam may have triggered the missile that caused the mishap. The military has some pretty stringent requirements about stray EM radiation. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1967_USS_Forrestal_fire

[@cuteraptor42]

Superconducting research is essential for this technology to be miniaturised. The currents involved in the conductors are gigantic !

[@MostlyPennyCat]

The big problem is barrel wear. That's the main reason they've cancelled them all, needs new materials science

[@joeclaridy]

@@MostlyPennyCat I'm pretty sure some agency is researching composite alloys for railgun barrels.

[@i-love-comountains3850]

@@MostlyPennyCat Modular barrels of some kind. Ceramic-polymer backing layer, also modular, and swap them over time. It's having that level of production which probably gets in the way.

[@OriginalStachuJones]

@@joeclaridy im that agency

[@kathrynck]

@@MostlyPennyCat I don't think there is any materials science which can save the concept.

[@donchaput8278]

Faster projectile speeds would also make intercept courses easier to target in the case of an incoming ICBM. It would be a significant upgrade to defense.

[@geneawisea2708]

Wouldn’t blowing up an ICBM cause the explosion and then knock out any generator powering the rail guns?

[@donchaput8278]

@@geneawisea2708 If you're talking about intercepting a Nuclear missile and that resulting in an an EMP it wont. Hitting a nuke won't set off the explosion, the nuke's internal payload needs to detonate to start that reaction.

[@cheddar2648]

@@geneawisea2708 No. A nuclear device uses precisely timed high explosive implosion to attain super criticality. If you blew the MIRV apart with a kinetic impactor, you would get contaminates raining down in the form of particulate fissile material, but no detonation. The detonation has to be >>> perfect

[@Grim_Reaper_from_Hell]

@@cheddar2648 pretty much all of the modern ICBMs carry multiple warheads. Depending on configuration even if you managed to destroy one warhead you can trigger either separation of the warheads or a boom. On the other hand for the dirty bomb, that you describe, you actually need an explosion. The only way to shoot down ICBM safely is long before it enters atmosphere. The energy of the projectile should be pretty high and it should have smart weapon capabilities. You cannot replace $50 million sm-3 block 2a miscile with $10 projectile.

[@zenko247]

ICBMs travel at much higher speeds at least "Mach 23" to get into Space for a ballistic Trajectory An intercept missile has to be "guided " to the target. ABMs travel at Mach10 + ( see Sprint ABM missile as example ) so this weapon is A backwards step in speed

[@nunyabeeswax9463]

I'm not scientist, most of the energy used to send a projectile a hyper speed come in the form of heat. Keeping the barrel cool for repetitive shots is engineering wonder. Also, imagine how sophisticated the capacitors are to discharge and charge . Multiple banks???? IDK. I was bummed when I read the DOD was moving away from this technology. Glad to see it back

[@nightskyremedies]

ye amd these will probably need a lot of electricity for each round

[@f1reguy587]

The project just gets highs and lows of funding, i think the engineers use new research, quickly build a prototype and get a test in, then they wait again for further advancements in other areas. Bit like how fusion is just ticking along…this tech will never stop being watched, as missiles are good but a system that can work without navigation is a good back up just in case…but we have lasers now,

[@blueindigo1000]

Amazing to me is that the term "General Atomics" sounds like something a Science Fiction author would create for a novel .

[@kmarasin]

It IS a company in the Fallout franchise universe.

[@HuntingTarg]

@@kmarasin That's wild. General Atomics started as a dept. of the once-giant military contractor General Dynamics, and was sold off/acquired a few times.

[@castlekingside76]

I've been following this program. They have made progress. The prototype was the size of an Amazon warehouse basically. They needed a massive structure for power and electrical.

[@chrism6904]

Hopefully in a decade they can get this fully operational. Im sure it will be quite awhile...

[@iencservices8219]

Totally Untrue It was less than 1000 sq ft

[@hasanok1964]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/oJeYZKBoereIo5o Loading....................

[@snoig1]

Well, when I worked on them back in the '80s, you could easily fit one in a shipping container.

[@peggyfranzen6159]

⚡

[@RK57AZ]

You didn’t mention if the barrel wear issue the navy discovered has been addressed or overcome. Another great story! Keep them coming!

[@danielt.3152]

It seems like barrel wear could be eliminated, heat is the big issue, but maybe some kind lol liquid nitrogen coolant or maybe some form of super conductivity using super low temperatures to maximize the electrical efficiency as that could help cool the system. One idea I had was cooling the entire barrel with a jacket of liquid nitrogen kinda like a browning machine gun from WWI, it’s not the first time we have had challenges from hot barrels, even the MG42 had spare barrels

[@fencserx9423]

They haven’t. There are theories on how to address it, but there’s hasn’t been the “We have solved it” test

[@RVize]

Barrel and ruining a magnet both need to be fixed 🤔 so why not change the barrel after 5 shots like the g10 4 barrel assault gun

[@CitiesTurnedToDust]

Exactly - if they haven't progressed in keeping the weapon from tearing itself apart, the video is just another fluff piece.

[@twhite5085]

the US Navy demonstrated the rail warp / melt problem had no solution. In addition, the power storage requirement consumed large volumes of shipboard spaces. Many container-sized electrical storage units per gun. In short, impractical with current technology. Maybe future.

[@paladro]

more range, more firepower, always welcome in this arena.

[@biggtrux]

I imagine your partner often says more length in your arena would be welcome too.

[@Lapantouflemagic0]

and that's why most of the world is moving towards missiles. why make an obscenely expensive cannon when you can just mass produce guided missiles ?

[@vegasspaceprogram6623]

@@Lapantouflemagic0 I imagine this could have certain advantages over missiles, the projectiles may be alot cheaper, and it would deal immense damage.

[@Lapantouflemagic0]

​@@vegasspaceprogram6623 the projectiles, yes, would probably be cheaper and could be carried in greater number on the vessel. i think that's the main advantages of cannons (railguns or not) over missiles. but still, as cool as railguns are, i'm not sure they are actually that interesting. lasers are probably much better and can be used defensively.

[@Stroke-it-2Handed]

The reason a propellant driven projectile is limited to just over 4000 FPS, is because at that speed, the "Gunpowder" starts to outweigh the projectile itself.

[@apeshitcrazyman]

Dude! The commentary and narration is spot on!! Soo much better than your other channel. Clear concise informative and interesting, spoken at a pace one can follow. Great work, very interesting!

[@nicholasfeiock4952]

This comment is more passive aggressive than a karen in menopause

[@Umbra2012]

Makes you wonder if the US Space Forces is also looking at this. The space treaty does not outlaw kinetic weapons.

[@ninja23yt]

It only outlaws nukes, and kinetic bombardment is a thing of science fiction. The sheer weight of a projectile means getting it up there is expensive, and you are about as well off just using conventional explosives, perhaps taking a page out of the Soviet book and using FOBS, fractional orbit bombardment system

[@reclusiarchgrimaldus1269]

John 3:16 New International Version 16 For God so loved(A) the world that he gave(B) his one and only Son,(C) that whoever believes(D) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(E) 🙏

[@thomascarmichael6760]

It may take a while to iron out the problems but if they can use magnetics to shoot aircraft off the pointy end of the boat, they’ll find a way to build an operational rail gun that is cost effective. Lasers were a Buck Rodgers dream back in the 1930’s, but they are fielding them on naval ships now. That’s speed of light tech that we’re now talking about. Besides that General Atomics projectile is probably a whole lot cheaper than a standard missile or a harpoon middle. Keep the faith shipmate’s. They’ll figure it out!!!

[@ashtonhartley2662]

Can those lasers shoot through clouds/fog?

[@hf117j]

The problem is magnets lose power when exposed to heat. Meaning frequent rail replacements. Also the acceleration means it's unlikely for any electronics to survive being fired to guide the projectile how they want to

[@guytech7310]

@@hf117j it does use magnets. it use electrical current to generate a magnetic field. The barrel consists of a pair of electrodes long the entire length of the barrel and electrical current is dumped (shorted) across the projectile which creates an opposite magnetic field generated in the barrel electrodes.

[@jaybee3165]

yup. in the last update a couple years ago- they had a navy admiral saying the same thing. firing the blitzer, even with the current prototype technology? is 100x cheaper than missile tech & a LOT faster. at those prices / speeds / rate of fire? they can afford to miss- 90% of the time and still eliminate any & all incoming threats. line your 'area of denial' with blitzers? an enemy would be whacko to try & attack- like trying to cross a mile of no-man's land armed with a rifle & a grenade- and the other guy has a .50 belt fed.. and ALL day to just spray you down.

[@maksimbrazhnikov9426]

Inner mind directed Energy Weapons target approximately 1% of human population via 9 mile high drone set by project mandate colloquialy known as 'Grim Reaper' of which iconic resemblance symbol known as the death sorcery cast is relative to the skeleton ghoul's scythe's familiar shape bearing resemblemance of the likes of the gamma radiation power character indicator sign that looks alot like a crooked backwards 7 numeral digit. The 9 mile high Unmanned Aerial Vehicle of Surgeon General's Grim Reaper U.S Navy Air force branch skyborg skynet surveillance of earth's physical containment properties is set in it's infamous soul abduction motion of physical and fully non linear Gauss Laser powered by Raytheon Corporation construemcy of 70kV capacity run in 9 phases of consecutive 100 ampere projecting heavy particle disturbance capable anti personnel force operated by means of G.O.R.G.O.N. S.T.A.R.E 10²⁴ Hz emitting G.O.D. force play X Ray cannon projection that acts as a clandestine form of heavily guarded secret of the monopoly category of such classified atmosphere watch gravity gun cancerous harrasment that is programmed to fulfill a very uncanny intervention of actual Holy Ghost Air Deployment actual armed divine disfigurative afflictions on subjects experiencing the enforced microsatellite genetic Radioactive nanomachined symbiosis holding this deeply resented relationship of gang sindication via remote cancerous Directed Energy Solutions set by this covert bombardment of non visible laser radiation from the drones' gaussian beam emitter due to existence of smoking sources and their elemental deterrent of management stability spherical balance containment set by blackout breeches; otherwise reliability and dependable safety standards of layered atmospheric maintenance of climate control and earth control processes stemming from sound and smooth environmental aerial conditions. Smoking fire depending on the chemical propellant friction level and type details of which issuance is unknown is targeted by this system control run by numerous complex branches of U.S Naval base drone fleets carri d out by autonomus operating counter insurgency by MQ9 R.E.A.P.E.R. the General Atomics program sky guardian proprietary doctorate of very comlplex political continuos cover up tactics led by Pentagon tribune as defense against insurgency of 🚬 ng's potentially hazard induction that is firmly stated as direct reason leading to the fluctuations and stripping of stable atmospheric coverage quality. This truth though I have no concrete facts other than personnel description of the Grim Reaper program inevitably concerns us all as severe inner system death and hidden electronic harrasment plague of AIRFORCE Destruction causing 🤖 parasite of atrocious hidden by Gaussian Beam Operating Electronic G.O.R.G.O.N. aka the Geoscape Operations Radioactive Gamma Observation Neutrinics 🔫 of full blown mind control abductions mixed as dark suggestive paranormal activity scripted by Hollywood media concerning the worldwide inevitable system bodily radioactive rejections via covert tactical terrorscape and imprisonment from nanomachined uplinks setting us all to such unexpected attacks by microsatellite coded genetics resulting in stalking utilized by S.T.A.R.E. Satellite Topography AirForce Recursive Equation field of fully unjust unexplainable to the hapless subject on the nature of crimes committed sequences of worst bodily control matrix stripping settings bearing the witnessed cases of individual's self preservation and independence. R.E.A.P.E.R. the Remote Electric Autonomous Population Exterminators Registry is what is responsible for stupid cover ups set by political think tanks coined under layers of think tanks such as 'Schizophrenia' and Havanna Syndrome. The song "Seasons Don't fear the Reaper" by blue oyster cult band is a reference to machine schematic trust breach of MQ9 Reaper and RQ4 Global Hawk of their fully automated life assignment to eradicate human population due to use of unstable energy projections caused by carbon monoxide emissions. Religion and ignorance are the worst forms of evil there can be. I luckily have kept my syntax and learned by interrogation that the sun is obviously not natural but is an electric unit onwed by Raytheon which body of corporate force is the sole owner of this universe we live in. General Atomics is it's grid rulebook and earth resinence is set to affect even you likely by age 86 due to natural genetic mutation you shall be set under that is diabolically and heathenously viewed as automated biological treason and thus enacting this long untouched topic of how satellite neural deliberate terrorism is the cause of our inability to live an eternal life. Reject religious groups and all forms of very deadly social stripping of this unwavering dark truth of what the Special Forces of Covert Operations of Airbase Patrick, Florida disclosed to my dodged indirect remarks of how I am not possed by stupid archaic notions such as 'witchcraft' but find myself belayed by unexpected neutrino debilitating rejection as if my body's gravity support has been canceled. Hence why its called 'cancer'. For I fear the Reaper and deeply loathe the Jews and Christians. Be smart. There are way too many forms of electrical covert deformative gaussian field disfigurement and variety of bodily molecular Disturbance to be descriptively understood by regular language. That is one huge X Ray gun under the nose of General Atomics Remote Piloted Drones. It has zombified me before and forcibly rejected my mental survival instinct by such covert assault that is all set and bombarded by atmospheric conditional safekeeping trust breech case log read by trinity of satellites monitoring Earth's seismic activity and perverting me into a 'mysteriously Ill subject category' that was informed to be a cancer ploy cover up primed by these military monsters to get you by age 111 86% chance. Churches are wicked sources. Here is truth for you and please go look at the drone yourself instead of BLM actions along with their democratic insinuating tactics my sorry white refuge escape has termed as full blown social security trust breech of a jungle based disgrace governing this nation as a form of population church sovereignty instead of plain and difficult attempt to learn science and languages while bearing cover from the barbeque pit UFOs rather than joining the black cult force of inditement of human population technological maintenance while rejecting potential to uphold white respect and sole reason of keeping true to what holds the original scape of the color spectrum of nuclear fusion components the stars disclose instead of black cult projects ravaging our physical potential by rejecting opportunities for white austerity of resource discriptive outreach education by full factual scientific disclosure of the fundamental and not fun understanding and physical activity ownership credit and supporting base honesty. Gang Stalking and inverting the "+' symbol to enforce social literate ploy anti earth anarchy and liberal tryranny I witness is the wicked heart of corruption... www.mp3juices.cc for free mp3 downloads Listen to Uriah Heep song called "Lady In Black" and "come away Melinda" Original "Come Away Melinda" song was performed by band called UFO. No heavy petting please. Patrick Girdner ex covert operations of US Navy was known as "Rachelle, Legend Of 49 penises of NC 17 Deployment Aircraft of Lockheed Martin Aerospace.

[@dr.ofdubiouswisdom4189]

General Atomics: " ...plus, it has 4 USB charging ports!"

[@paulcohen1555]

*FAST* CHARGING PORTS.

[@yoJgnaeHeaM0503]

PD type C support

[@MRsolidcolor]

navy : naw Army : ill take it marines: army will give it to us, after they buy newer ones

[@itsgue6175]

I remember reading about this in high school .... can’t imagine how much it’s progressed in 10 years

[@foxglow6798]

Surprisingly little actually

[@SmokesKwazukii]

this is much more realistically possible today than when they were showing these off back in the day

[@rexmundi3108]

Firing it has a tendency to destroy the gun.

[@grndzro777]

And cost $50k per shot.

[@simply2187]

Well not really any more

[@simply2187]

@@grndzro777 Zumwalt rounds are like 800k a pop The railgun round is 25k a pop A specialised hypersonic round on a US navy destroyer is like 75k Normal shots are 2,2 k i mean each US navy missle costs 2 mil

[@avroarchitect1793]

@@grndzro777 Thats dirt cheap as far as naval artillery rounds and ordinance is concerned

[@grndzro777]

@@simply2187 Fair enough. I just remember when the Zumwalt came out it was like ....if you ever fire it you better just resign.

[@USA0312]

Absolutely insane that we have stuff like this in real life

[@mill2712]

And that's the stuff you know about.

[@USA0312]

@@mill2712 I know right!!! Boggles the mind sometimes

[@redsun9261]

But you dont have it. The program is almoust closed because of physical reasons. Meanwhile Russia and China deployed hypersonic missiles allready, not even mentioning hitting a real targets in you know where.

[@charlesrichardson8635]

Just think a few months ago the US was so far behind... No we just don't expose everything all the time. We have range of hypervelocity missile that are in test that are in the M5-6 range and are developing stuff that makes that look slow.

[@redsun9261]

​@@charlesrichardson8635 from what i have seen so far, most of the current "development" in US army goes into developing sets of rules to let brain damaged persons serve and be somewhat equal to normal humans. This isnt going to work)

[@jacksonteller1337]

They were scrapped on several vessels as they can't fire often enough to be useful in battle. They were planning to get these on the next generation of destroyers and to replace the useless 155 mm on the Zumwalt class. But they are now placing hypersonic cruise missiles in place of these in the place of the turrets.

[@jeroboam4486]

The fact that after 20 years of R&D most of your images are synthetic prooves it's far from being ready.

[@CuriousPersonUSA]

Thanks for the update! I am glad the railgun concept didn't just get abandoned. I hope the US navy will become more successful in making technology leaps! It feels like we are falling behind!

[@djl5634]

We aren't. We are ahead in most respects.

[@vyros.3234]

We arent lmao

[@generalrendar7290]

People love to complain. Americans have believed that we've been in decline since 1855. Our opponents are autocrats who love to overestimate their capabilities while in the (mostly) free speech West we see more viewpoints both true and fictional, with the bias often favoring tearing something down. Sandbox made an excellent pair of videos on the hypersonic missile arms race, also take a look at Kalibur vs Tomahawk cruise missiles performance.

[@ABCDEFGHIJKELA...]

not even a little, it's just spread out over a wide range of testing environments. Everything from NASA, to Mr. Rando that works at an unnamed facility near you, that you'd love to enter, but there's just an empty lot, that's somehow full of cars!!!...spookeh!

[@ABCDEFGHIJKELA...]

@@generalrendar7290 Yessir! We're OK! :) in fact, the average citizen has no idea of what capabilities we have, and knows that's a good thing, with the exception of some of the dumber ones that think area 51 is where everything fun is. It absolutely isn't...but don't tell them oO

[@lightspeedvictory]

Bit of a correction: modern naval guns, depending on the shell, powder and gun combination can hit targets up to 20 miles away with unassisted rounds

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

I heard its more like 34 if you use ballast properly

[@lightspeedvictory]

@@Shad0wBoxxer you mean like what the USS Texas pulled at Normandy?

[@Shad0wBoxxer]

@@lightspeedvictory exactly :)

[@lightspeedvictory]

@@Shad0wBoxxer meh, I don’t really count that…

[@reclusiarchgrimaldus1269]

John 3:16 New International Version 16 For God so loved(A) the world that he gave(B) his one and only Son,(C) that whoever believes(D) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(E) 🙏

[@RNemy509]

When the fireball that comes out of the barrel is larger than the one from a standard powder charge cannon, you know this power is just unbelievable. I certainly hope we field these systems soon.

[@forgemaster6120]

Why? The weapon seems pointless when hypersonic scramjet and glide vehicles will be more than capable of neautralizing enemy ships at a much farther range.

[@kathrynck]

Not gonna happen. Completely apart from the problem of energy density to power it, hypersonic rail guns more or less destroy themselves in just a few uses at most. But there likely will be ramjet projectiles fired from conventional guns which achieve similar speeds with infinitely less problems.

[@RNemy509]

So you want to limit the weapon systems we field based on possible redundancy? That mentality is why the Air Force built F4 Phantoms with no cannon initially. Once we overcome technical problems the system has wide range of uses beyond simply trying to compete against a missile or rocket.

[@Wavesonics]

Ya, often with high powered railguns, the rear part of the projectile is vaporized into a plasma. It increases conductivity between the two rails, and the expanding plasma assists in pushing the projectile a bit. I bet that is what is seen exiting the barrel here.

[@Palmit_]

why? why needed?

[@christineshotton824]

I was pleasantly surprised to see that images of medieval trebuchets and WWI field guns weren't being used to illustrate the railguns.

[@thehappyscrapper-toronto3085]

The best to make the enemy breath a sigh of relief from something so monstrously destructive is put it out there that the production has been cancelled when it’s really been completed.

[@HowlingWo1f]

I think it’s worth mentioning some of the negatives as the barrel gets worn out quite quickly after just a few rounds

[@RANDO4743]

@Fred Garvin the heat warps the barrel.

[@CyberJellos]

@Fred Garvin The "barrel" is not worn down by friction, but by the rails being blasted apart by the intense electrical arc between the rails. The gun damages itself with every shot.

[@CyberJellos]

@Fred Garvin "windings" ? Are you thinking of a coil gun? This is a rail gun. 2 rails, an aperture, Lorentz force, and scary amounts of electricity running through it all.

[@wilsonrawlin8547]

@Fred Garvin The wear he is talking about is the contact rails in the barrel. The energy used to fire the projectile literally melts the contacts each time it is fired.

[@jdogdarkness]

The Navy cancelled this program last year. However some technologies have come out of it.

[@dragon12234]

That was the Railgun being developed by BAE Systems. This is different, currently separate from the Navy IIRC

[@MiniMotoAlliance]

The railguns have a major issue with melting the copper contactors that excellerate the projectile. Between that and the amount of power needed for each shot, its not really a great weapon for remote use in the middle of a fight. High maintenance

[@datadavis]

Is it even copper? I would think good old monel would resist melting better.

[@jungleno.]

Assessing a hypervelocity weapon and not able to spell accelerate… Priceless.

[@datadavis]

@@jungleno. Its not his fault that american schools are shit. He's obviously not dyslexic, so probably just stupid.

[@jritechnology]

ROckets were high maintenance 60 years ago.....

[@williamzk9083]

The Chinese and Russian militaries are deploying hypersonic weapons. A Chinese DX-24 hypersonic glider has a range of 1000 miles. More than an F-35. You are going to stop it with a Phalanx.

[@JetSetSixDeuce]

That last beat hit harder than a barrage of rail gun rounds

[@javiertorres-bb8lf]

36 THOUSAND miles an hour. That's how fast the projectile travels.

[@dougsprojects6431]

That's what I said.... 52,493 FPS is way more that Mach 4. Its is 35454.545 MPH which is Mach 46.

[@iencservices8219]

It is quite simple and dependent on the projectile mass. 15 Km/ Sec was the uinclassified speed at trials. Do the math at the Joule level less loss and you can determine the mass at that speed

[@geraldlafleur7776]

I heard the Navy couldn’t solve the issue of the rail wearing out after just a few firings.

[@hf117j]

That's because magnets lose their magnetism when exposed to enough heat. And all the power running through them to fire it heats them up with every shot. It essentially needs a coolant bath in the process of firing to minimize how much magnetism is lost each shot. Edit: I know someone that worked on it and my only suggestion was to try using the seawater. It is meant to be on a ship. But I meant more of a coolant loop with seawater. Not direct exposure

[@geraldlafleur7776]

@@hf117j makes me wonder what the Chinese are doing to overcome this.

[@arimunic]

@@geraldlafleur7776 Probably faking it.

[@guytech7310]

@@geraldlafleur7776 The Chinese have a super genius named Dr. Sum Ting Wong that will solve the problem! FWIW: its not solvable, as the physics will limit the barrel life.

[@chrism6904]

@@arimunic Thats what I was thinking. There is NO WAY they could have beaten us. It could just be a prop. Making it look "real".

[@josephpacchetti5997]

This is a very fast weapon, Thanks for posting. 👍 🇺🇸

[@jim2lane]

The Chinese Navy's railgun required a ship the size of a large freighter in order to house just the single gun, and the electric power plant required charge it

[@estebanq.urkelthevxiith8495]

Its for show. I doubt it actually works. They can barely build AESA radars without thieving from the US. They stole KB's of data on the EM launchers for air craft carriers and the F-35s radar and other data.

[@Mildlink]

Sheesh, sounds super useful, can’t wait until they try to use it during war and it gets bombed before it even has the chance to get setup. Wonderful

[@jjrossitee]

Coal powered rail gun?

[@shawnr771]

Ok. Look at the size of the one they testing and how many cables are attached to it. If the US Navy did the same thing with current technology the size and power required would be comparable.

[@TheLightypants]

I don't even buy that it's anything but an empty turret. China has built entire fake cities. I wouldn't put this above them.

[@LooneyNuke]

Can't wait for the Mr. Handy drop

[@frankmccann29]

Nice to see it built finally. Have an attachment that lasts forever. Reality is not for the faint of hearted.

[@JamesCrouchX]

I read somewhere that the power had to be reduced when testing a system on a tank. It was so fast it just passed through with the only damage being the holes. Windows. No boom.

[@leongolgo9950]

Don't need a boom if all the squishy parts become so much interior paint.

[@sandysand3097]

so it wasn't canceled"? We really need a multi barrelled auto cannon like this blocking out the sun from 200km away and annihilating 10 grid squares per minute

[@datadavis]

Yes.

[@dalestephan6777]

10 grid squares a minute. Works for me! Lol 11A

[@Aengus42]

You didn't mention the main problem with rail gun technology. It's the problem that's stopping rail guns becoming ubiquitous. It's during the acceleration phase as the projectile is boosted it forms a dead short between the + & - rails. This short produces lots of heat, the friction and damage to the rails. You can see the plasma produced in the slo-mo shots. This damages the rails with each shot requiring repair before another is attempted. We're seeing a very "sanitised" version of rail guns here

[@teeheeteeheeish]

Dumb idea from a dumb guy, but what if the barrel could be filled with saltwater? There could be tubes that “charged” the barrel between shots

[@SaltyRad]

im sure with their kind of funding they have made a material to account for those problems. the military wouldnt decide to refund it if they thought a weapon like that would only hold up for a short time frame. remember they want their ammo cheap, not the material used to shoot it.

[@common12]

Agree- barrel technology needs to be revolutionized to make viable.

[@bob_thebuilder]

The best feature is that if you run out of ammo, just chuck a handful of spare change down the barrell!😂

[@johnhiggs325]

NSWC was testing the rail gun for quite a few years on the Potomac range. The acoustic signature is quite distinct. It doesn’t sound anything like a 5 inch.

[@Intrafacial86]

I'm no scientist, but two things I've wondered: 1) could the piezoelectric effect be used to produce the burst of current needed via kinetic energy, instead of traditional generation and storage? 2) could the rails be made of a conductive gel that vaporizes when fired, providing lubricant and cooling?

[@ShandyOzaki]

I'm no scientist either, but I think that for 1: A piezoelectric system would simply be too large and costly in comparison to other powerplants and storage methods and 2: any gel would probably interfere with velocity or behave very strangely at those velocities, sorta like how water is effectively solid when hit hard enough. Just my thoughts on those two ideas! They're extremely creative approaches all things considered, please keep thinking out of the box and consider going into engineering if this is something you enjoy.

[@trevorchampagne800]

And it’s probably a safe idea to say that if I threw a whole bunch of water in my computer it would never turn on again it’s probably the same to say for the rail gun Lubricant or water what’s the difference liquids soft solids or anything with moisture is not your computers or electronics best friend

[@Intrafacial86]

@@ShandyOzaki lol now I'm imagining instead of a metal projectile they somehow figure out a way to launch a chunk of water at those speeds, making the largest Super Soaker on earth

[@Intrafacial86]

@@trevorchampagne800 oh geez, never in a million years would I imaging putting water in there! It would probably spontaneously electroplate everything on the inside or something lol. What I'm thinking is more along the lines of a viscous synthetic oil that has conductive particulates suspended in it, able to close the circuit and absorb a significant portion of the waste heat upon firing. Also, as far as I know, there isn't any delicate circuitry inside the barrel. It's literally just massive strips of metal for conducting a massive amount of power.

[@juliusfucik4011]

I think using a coolant would be a good idea. Maybe you could make the rail hollow and pump a coolant through it. Perhaps they already do. There are other non-obvious ways of cooling. But perhaps the real problems nowadays are in material science. We need new materials to make things happen.

[@00kt86]

I'm not too impressed with the railgun. I'll be impressed when these things are handheld. I am impressed with Dark Tech, you do super work.

[@UNSUB1001]

Forgotten weapons hand held gun. ArcFlash Labs' GR-1 Anvil Portable Gauss Rifle kzbin.info/www/bejne/m3KrfIZmo7ufgpY

[@i-love-comountains3850]

I mean, they'd be mighty handy as howizters for ICBM intercepts, currently kindof a concern.

[@OpinionatedZoomer69]

You should be impressed, if this works it'd be a ground breaking miltaristic advancement, not everything has to be for civillian consumption to be impressive

[@stevinharper3551]

There are they just aren't really deadly

[@joshsecor9337]

They already have hand held rail guns

[@chuckaddison5134]

The problem(s) are at least twofold. One, barrel erosion, this is probably the bigest problem. Each firing quickly erodes the contact surfaces. Rapid fire probably even more. After a reletively few shots the contact surfaces (essentually the barrel) has to be replaced. Not something you want to be doing in the middle of a fire mission or battle. Two, power supply and charge/recharge equipment. The electrical appetite of the system is enormous. Requiring megawatts of power to achieve the stated velocities. The power supply has to be capable of feeding the hungry circuitry almost instantly for sustained firings. The discharge subsystem is subject to huge variations is current, and magnetic fields plus a physical strain on the actual capacitors accumulating and discharging the launching force. This is NOT a weapon system approaching deployment readiness, but a testbed for future developments. Superconductors may offer some help but that increases the complexity and potential failure points, at least at this time. The Chicoms may have put one on a ship, but they face the same problems we do, but probably less able to overcome them. They have not beaten us to a superweapon.

[@fukushimaisrevelation2817]

sounds like they should skip ahead to the coilgun which does not require rail contact or a barrel.

[@claudiobruno3194]

Actually, current at sliding contacts is so large that plasma forms at the interface and the resistivity stops current from rising more. It is a power-limited device.

[@chuckaddison5134]

@@claudiobruno3194 Not sure I understand your statement. As I understand it, plasma is conductive, so circuit resistance should drop. However the plasma would also be part of the erosion problem.

[@claudiobruno3194]

Chuck, the plasma is conductive but not as much as an electric conductor...most of the energy fed the plasma goes eventually to heat, not to power the sled...Bye, C.

[@ProjectRaijin]

It doesn’t even just erode like water would rocks over time, it’s literally fragments the barrel with every shot, you can see pieces of it when the armatures jacketing ejects off upon exiting the barrel

[@charlessmith2643]

I have always been fascinated with the concept to the railgun

[@jlo13800]

The electrogravitaional effect seems to damage the rails. The electron charges are surges in the conductor and bunched making a electrogravitaional pressure surge. Tesla did w=this with impulsed DC and Eugene Podkletnov did with his gravity beam device

[@stwayne9121]

You know the thing is a threat when even the shell's casing has a kill factor. Can't wait to see when one day is shoots smart ammo.

[@MostlyPennyCat]

I can tell you one thing, they've put fission reactors in cargo containers.

[@biggtrux]

Uh, yeah no they haven't. Stop being a turnip.

[@hobog]

@@biggtrux ~they~ put fission radiothermal generators on Mars rovers

[@hobog]

The power transmission and discharge involved with that is not quite the same scale as what's needed for em guns and aircraft carrier catapults. Radiation shielding for that is interesting tho

[@searcherT]

@@hobog what about a thorium reactor

[@rastiga9196]

I had a friend whose father was high up in the military, he said that his father showed him a tape from the 80s of the US military using handheld laser weapons being powered by a backpack and other still top-secret weapons. I believe it even though nobody else will, we have tech that is decades if not centuries ahead of what is publicly known. Imagine the power source in that backpack to even generate such a laser, it is still not possible with science as we know it even now. He also saw camo like in the movie predator.

[@dev-debug]

The weapon looks small but the power plant to run it has to be fairly large. I can't imagine the barrel lasts too long either judging from the fire (plasma?) coming out of a weapon that is not using an explosive propellant. I wonder how many joules of energy it takes to fire a round, has to be crazy high.

[@russellwhitmyer6764]

It's the wear that was the main reason the Navy stopped the research. They need a major breakthrough in materials.

[@iencservices8219]

30 MJ was standard. Too hard to get the capacitance and voltage physics for much higher energies. Plus Ohms law becomes a problem real quick at lower voltages and induces higher currents. Also EMP is quite startling!

[@donnieb2000]

BE VERY CONCERNED AS THE DEMOCRAT PARTY SHUT DOWN THIS PROJECT AS THEY ARE WORKING FOR THE ENEMY AND ONLY WANT TO MAKE US WEAK SO WE CAN BE RUINED FROM WITHIN AND THEN OUR ENEMY CAN TAKE OVER

[@garlandmccoy4994]

Love it, but (and there is always a but) you can only use the railgun for three time. Each time it is fired it rips itself apart. The system simply destroys itself after just a few (currently three) uses. When they say more work needs to be done. They are correct. That said, a hell of weapon!

[@lorenzamccoy7512]

The best weapon is a weapon that you only need to fire once! It won't really matter if the gun destroys itself in one shot if it can shoot clean through an aircraft carrier then that one shot would be worth it!

[@jaybee3165]

rumor I heard was 115 shots- but 'classified' STILL means? they're never gonna tell you or I.

[@waccytobaccy]

Don't take this the wrong way, but you would be the perfect voice actor for the riddler. Your voice has this dark undertone even though you're not talking about anything dark. Teach me your ways lol

[@tomog8337]

I must’ve rewatch this I wanna say three times this is actually so interesting to me

[@randybentley2633]

Now imagine an A-10 like airplane that had a viable cannon like this high-mach monster. You wouldn't hear the round that just cratered you and everything in your immediate vicinity because the round would reach you before the sound barrier breaking even had a chance to ruffle the feathers of the birds in the countryside.

[@hf117j]

The rounds already hit before the sound. That's what supersonic does. Hypersonic just means it has more lead on the shock wave

[@reclusiarchgrimaldus1269]

John 3:16 New International Version 16 For God so loved(A) the world that he gave(B) his one and only Son,(C) that whoever believes(D) in him shall not perish but have eternal life.(E) 🙏

[@randybentley2633]

@@hf117j yeah this would be one of those : you stretch and yawn and then, all of a sudden, you're standing before your afterlife's arbiter going : " Why am I here?!?!"

[@ronaldlebeck9577]

There were a couple of guys who built a 6 foot long linear accelerator in their basement and fired a 1/2-inch diameter ball bearing through it. They simply dropped it in and a hole immediately formed in the concrete basement wall. They found that the ball bearing had not only gone through the concrete wall but also penetrated several feet into the clay past it. I understand the physics of how rail guns work, though why insist on using that when a linear accelerator works without having to make electrical contact between two conducting rails? The projectile is suspended within the magnetic fields and doesn't touch anything. Pulse the electromagnets in rapid succession and have a hopper dropping projectiles into the tube - a machine gun that doesn't use gunpowder. I think that idea has been experimented with. There are a few videos here on YT where guys have made hand-held linear accelerator rifles.

[@Leo-km9xg]

Thats not a railgun, it's a coil gun. Rail gun ammo contact 2 rails on either side

[@aceg81]

IIRC, railguns are a lot more efficient as far as converting watts to acceleration, as you need a certain amount of space between the coils and the projectile. In coilguns, you also need extremely precise timing on the coil initiation, or you waste more energy on top of that.

[@ronaldlebeck9577]

@@Leo-km9xg I know that. A linear accelerator is a straight-line version of a particle accelerator, only instead of accelerating particles, it accelerates a ferromagnetic mass, such as an iron or steel projectile. If you know electronics, it can be done. kzbin.info/www/bejne/h4WnlHmuidZkfNk

[@ronaldlebeck9577]

@@aceg81There are something like 30,000 linear accelerators in the world -- they are basically coil guns. Rail guns have a limit to how fast they can accelerate an object (16,000 m/s), plus they generate recoil, the rails want to push apart, and they need to be replaced. Coil guns can theoretically accelerate things nearly to the speed of light, with enough coils, power, etc. A rail gun uses the Lorenz force whereas a coil gun uses magnetic fields. There are pros and cons to both.

[@iencservices8219]

You're on the right track. This work was done piggy back on the requirements of CERN and LLL and SANDIA. The capacitor tech and sizing are very similar.

[@carterscharmen8087]

Is it possible that the railgun was just a front for some really expensive black project the navy was working on? Or that they got it to work and just didn’t tell anyone?

[@azureprophet]

Highly unlikely.

[@E6V6I6L1]

If We are being shown this , as even a possibility for use , it means that it has been being used for years .

[@johnlakey4983]

I only listened to this because the Speaker does a great job

[@icollectstories5702]

Guns have to accelerate projectiles in a very short distance, and any energy not transferred to the projectile creates heat, which damages the barrel and limits the fire rate. Rail guns simply aren't yet efficient enough to compete with regular chemical propulsion. Chemical energy is just too compact.

[@kathrynck]

Also, if you impart too much energy into the projectile in that very short distance, enough to make 'kinetic kill' artillery warheads, then the interior of your gun is subject to the equal and opposite forces needed to generate that velocity. Rail guns destroy themselves. To such an extent that there isn't even any super-expensive exotic materials tech which can save them. Above and beyond energy density, rail guns have a fundamental physics problem. (although "less than hypersonic" rail guns may one day actually be practical ...maybe)

[@antr7493]

🤣😂🤣🤣🤣 Way to point the obvious out. I think that's why these type of weapons are still in the R&D stage.

[@kathrynck]

@@antr7493 And they'll stay in the R&D stage for as long as there's money to burn. I work in the def industry, I know media likes to unjustly cry wolf on military hardware programs. I mean, I think think the F-35 is a fantastic aircraft. But railguns are the real deal, when it comes to being just a money-grift.

[@Keemperor40K]

Chemical propellants have a limit on acceleration potential and we are very near that threshold at all sizes of weapons. To accelerate a projectile faster, you need something that can impart way more energy than any chemical reaction we know of that is that compact. Some possibilities exist, like the Electro-thermal chemical cannon, which in theory creates a stable, predictable rapid burning propellant that would nearly double projectile speed on Tank Gun (and any artillery cannon for that matter), but this still pales in comparison to a Railgun. Simply put, despite the power requirements and complexities, Railguns can accelerate projectiles to speeds that no chemical gun can hope to reach and allow for ranges that put even some missiles to shame, while being more economical on a per projectile basis and have deeper magazines. But the main issue isn't even the power consumption or discharge, that is solved for the most part and further advances will result in significant miniaturization. The main issue really is barrel deformation. In order for a Railgun to work, the projectile casing must be in contact with the barrel at all times, to complete the circuit and accelerate the projectile. But the energy needed for this is so high, that the barrel basically begins to melt after a few uses and becomes unusable after a few shots. To date this has not been fixed and is the reason why Railguns where never fielded for trials, much less operation, as the barrel wear and tear makes them unusable. Until this major hurdle is overcome, Railguns will be a weapon of science-fiction, but once this is mitigated to a more reasonable level, then they will outperform any modern gun by a long shot.

[@icollectstories5702]

@@antr7493 I don't think any directed research is necessary at this time. We know the problems but haven't the science to solve them. We can continue doing research into new energy sources, conductors, and structural materials independently of rail guns, since these ideas would be more useful elsewhere. Until we tick off the list or come up with new concepts, this idea should be shelved. I give the US military credit for trying and then giving up. Not all problems can be solved by money and time.

[@avashurov]

This is an interesting concept for certain applications, but unusable in real life combat due to multiple issues: Short range. The speed will quickly downgrade to subsonic without propellant due to enormous air-resistance. Enormous electromagnetic noise. The launcher location will be instantly triangulated by the other side. High manufacturing cost and high power use.

[@thedeltadriver1438]

i thought about these too

[@44R0Ndin]

Can't triangulate the source of that electromagnetic noise, if it's so intense to fry the detectors (it is, cause what do you think is gonna happen with thousands of volts and millions of amps going thru a big pair of conductors is gonna do?). The bigger (and still unsolved) problem is barrel wear. You get currently 3 shots before the barrel is worn out.

[@avashurov]

@@44R0Ndin lol that’s a whole world worth of energy consumption you’re talking about. You would have to carry a few nuclear power plants with you to power it…

[@44R0Ndin]

@@avashurov Nah it's not a lot of energy overall, (maybe a megajoule or so) cause the firing transient doesn't last very long (like a fraction of a second). So while the power is immense, the time is tiny. That's why the rails erode so fast, the power is too much for the rails to handle.

[@laernulienlaernulienlaernu8953]

I think as supercapacitor technology progresses we'll see railguns become more common and less expensive. Although can the projectiles still be "lobbed" over obstacles, following a determined trajectory? These test shots suggest it flies more to a "line of sight".

[@anthonydewitt7674]

point it upwards and it follows a ballistic path like artillery

[@laernulienlaernulienlaernu8953]

@@anthonydewitt7674 but then it would lose the penetrating power surely, it would be just like any traditional artillery except obviously go a lot further.

[@iencservices8219]

Line of sight only. The speed is the ethalpy, without the speed it has no teeth. MVSQUARED, M is insignificant and better if low as possible

[@Robbedem]

@@anthonydewitt7674 The speed is required for the impact to cause enough damage. And the speed is lost quickly because of air resistance, which greatly increases with speed. So a ballistic trajectory (>45°) seems to me like it wouldn't work very well. imho, it's more like a tank gun with a range of less than 10km. (maybe only around 5km)

[@jaybee3165]

@@Robbedem at 110 miles- the existing titanium projectile is still traveling mach 3. a 25lb. projectile going mach 3? like getting hit with an m1 Abrams main barrel projectile- LETHAL. especially when you don't even see it coming. the interesting question I have? they believe they can DOUBLE the range to over 200 miles? so.. maybe a mach 7 muzzle velocity? exciting times- big development. perhaps they plan on using a tungsten projectile of smaller diameter / better drag / loss? something shaped more like a match grade boat tail rifle round with smaller fins perhaps.

[@PastorBrianLantz]

Glad to know it's not dead yet. I contributed to the triggering mechanism in 92 at the Ga lab in Torrey pines.

[@stonebreaker984]

General Atomics has to be the coolest corporation name ever.

[@lil----lil]

And here we've reached the limited of material science. This weapon works, HOWEVER, the barral gets so hot and the "wear and tear" level is currently deemed unacceptable - it's simply too expensive to operate in the long run - this weapon is AHEAD of its time. Perhaps carbon infused nano tube in the future but we're not there yet...

[@welshe222]

This weapon is quite frankly extremely useless, Somuch so that this entire weapons program was scrapped and removed, US army is not researching this anymore, It has far tomany issues, range being bad, cant fire more than 13 shots before the rails need to be replaced, huge power demand, each time a shot is fired near electronic radar equipment there is major scrambling issues.. Not sure why this video released after the project died when this project has been dead for months lol

[@dronestrikejr]

So Nikola tezla was on to something

[@jhmcd2]

I heavily doubt the Chinese got a fully deployable asset up and running. The problem with the rail gun isn't the concept of shooting the material itself, but rather the barrel holding up to the heat of constant weapons fire. That isn't an easy issue to solve.

[@bismuth7798]

What kind of enemy ship Stays within a 250 mile range of an carrier fleet without moving for several minutes

[@UnrealizedPNL]

hypersonic zircon has 9 machs and perfectly shows itself by hitting the decision-making centers

[@ternstrom19]

No more gunpowder, but the rail guns need a huge amount of electricity

[@michaelwilliams8297]

They perfected the big gun, miniaturization is the goal

[@aminamirkhani6377]

"As dangerous threats to America's safety increase with each passing day" that's funny

[@TheBibleDefenders]

All we are saying is, give peace a chance.... great vid man!

[@nighttow8780]

Wait a minute, I thought the US military was walking away from the rail gun idea. The excuse was, energy weapons.

[@markbegley1564]

GREAT NARRATION, GREAT DOCO thank you

[@woutb.5210]

This is not the only one electromagnetic railgun. The problems are HUGE.

[@manofaction1807]

Pew, Pew, Pew... It shoots lolly-pops and unicorn farts. Puppies and kitten powered!

[@alfredkwok9239]

Excellent technology and it could only happen in USA 😀😀😀💯💯💯👍👍👍

[@jamesrader3329]

Love learning about what's coming next in warfare

[@Michael-rg7mx]

What happens is the only projectile that can withstand the heat of flying through the atmosphere is plasma. It acts more like a fluid and disperses against resistance. Small warp drive shielding works in the lab but there isn't a way to power it. Now you have a gun that only hits very straight line of sight and randomly emerges along the path. It then disintegrates because of enormous velocity induced inertia.

[@theunknowngamer5477]

A glimmer of hope... I bet COBI creates a model of this before LEGO.

[@albertlugassy3610]

Thanks

[@eastafrika728]

This is even simpler technology than gunpowder.

[@HalfInsaneOutdoorGuy]

Issue is that railguns require damn near a full nuclear power plant to charge and they destroy themselves very quickly.

[@glennquagmire3258]

BAE has been making these for some time and the Navy has several ships testing them. The cost of the projectile is cheap and if e can catch an enemy hypersonic missile on radar before it changes course, a chance to stop them. Competition is always good for cost and making better weapons, especially for defensive purposes. Thank god Robert McNamara is no longer around. He would cancel the program like he did so many others.

[@davidbarr49]

I think that this technology paired with the high energy beam weapon technology would make the U.S. a truly formidable opponent.

[@antonnym214]

The problem, as Snoig adroitly pointed out is that the damn thing consumes itself. To the point, the navy likes the rounds, but not the rail gun itself. I think they need to do it with magnetic coils that won't burn themselves out.

[@iencservices8219]

That was how it was done. It was a total EMP projectile. I have seen the videos showing crude units putting the charge on the rail. But that was not how the prototype worked.

[@tim1398]

The Navy was able to take the hypersonic projectile tech and put it into their conventional guns. Rails guns are still not ready for field use. I think the Army is also using the tech in their Excalibur artillery rounds.

[@ralphclaveau5933]

The problem with the Rail Guns , they need to much energy for one blow and energy is precious for a combat ship middle of the ocean

[@thebeautifulones5436]

“Rear admiral” always cracks me up

[@davealmighty9638]

The biggest problem is the life if the gun. Each round fired causes extensive damage to the gun. This leads to a very short lifespan, and makes live fire training near impossible due to the cost. The amount of energy needed is unreal. You would never be able to have a land based unit without a small powerplant next to it to get enough power. It has a really long way to go before this technology will see actual use.

[@charlestaylor253]

Basically, the biggest problems with EM "rail guns" are 1. Massive power cost, which makes them impractical for both aircraft and most vehicle mountings. 2. "Barrel" wear, which means that after only a few shots the superconducting, mass-driving "rails" deteriorate significantly and need to be replaced...

[@donfreeman8920]

Hope they can get it to work would be a game changer

[@nolf3211]

This Tech is 35 years old. Railgun's ware developed in 1986. They had Railgun's on ships since 1990'S!

[@iencservices8219]

Yep, and rumored to have them in a 747 at high alt and also I was told one was fitted on an Abrahms body, but that is crazy if true.

[@robertbarlow6715]

This is absolutely unbelievable and amazing. Love ya show.

[@freehat2722]

I'd like more footage on it. Is there any handheld versions? What happened with the "Future Weapons" Lightning Gun (handheld)?

[@Dmwntkp99]

Amazing, a smaller version on fast mobile robots would be extremely deadly.

[@rogerdodger8415]

I'll bet we'll see a gigantic swarm of networked bee sized drones in the thousands that will hunt humans and fire needle sized darts at them that will leave them unconscious for days.

[@Comicsluvr]

General Atomics is also the name of the company in Fallout 4 that builds atomic devices. Food for thought...

[@tyreethomas3806]

I couldn’t imagine dying from a bullet 12 miles away

[@YourMom777-x3x]

I LOVE IT!

[@loneranger1536]

This is an awesome weapon for our country. Hopefully we can make it work smoothly in the near future.

[@rareform6747]

..Nothing Built Nothing Better !

[@Allen241stealth]

How are they able to film those panning shots that track the projectile? Wouldn't the camera need to move insanely fast?

[@thku4grace]

A little fuzzy math here? While they initially claim this weapon can achieve speeds of up to 52,493 feet per second (which is just short of 10 miles a second), they then go on to say it could hit a target 250 miles away in only 6 minutes. At 52,493 feet per second, it should hit that target in a little over 25 seconds rather than 6 minutes. Of course, the claim was UP TO 52,493 feet per second, which probably means it slows down significantly during the course of a 250 mile launch. 250 miles at 6 minutes is an average speed of about 3666 feet per second, which still betters gun powder, but then also without any explosion at the end.