International News

WASHINGTON, (APP/AFP) : The US Navy is quietly
pushing ahead with a radical new cannon that one day could
transform how wars are fought, even though some Pentagon officials
have voiced concerns over its cost and viability.
Named the railgun, the weapon in question represents a
paradigm shift in ballistic technology. Instead of using gunpowder
and explosive charges to shoot a shell from its barrel, it employs
vast amounts of electromagnetic energy to zoom a projectile along
a set of copper-alloy rails.
Thanks to four small fins on its rear, the hefty round can
then be guided toward a moving object — such as an enemy ship,
drone or incoming ballistic missile — relying purely on the
kinetic energy from its vast momentum to destroy the target.
Ultimately, scientists expect the railgun rounds to travel
at speeds up to Mach 7.5, which at 5,700 mph (9,100 kph) is more
than seven times the speed of sound, and cover a distance of
about 100 miles (160 kilometers.)
“The railgun is revolutionary in terms of how much it
can accelerate the bullet,” Tom Boucher, the railgun program
manager for Office of Naval Research, told AFP at the Pentagon
as he displayed six interconnected steel plates that all had
been shredded by a single test round.
“Powder guns have been matured to the point where you
are going to get the most out of them. Railguns are just
beginning.”
The futuristic weapon has long been a darling of the
Navy’s research wing, along with other game-changing technologies
such as laser beams that can track a boat in choppy water and
blast holes in its hull.
Yet the railgun, which so far has cost more than $500
million, may find itself becoming something of a victim of its
own success — even before it is made operational.
That’s because of its special shells designed to hurtle
through the skies at jaw-dropping speeds.
These rounds, called High Velocity Projectiles, can be
guided in flight. They can also be fired from a conventional
five-inch cannon.