They have successfully tested a rail gun for the US Navy

[thewayne]

8 MEGAJOULES OF POWER! The one they plan on fielding will be at an estimated 64 megajoules.

It can shoot 95 miles UP. And has an estimated range of 200 miles, and the projectile will get there in six minutes. A Tomahawk cruise missile takes eight minutes.

http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/012007/01172007/251373?

Comments

[apostate-96.livejournal.com]

Holy shit!! I hadn't realized they'd gotten that far along in developing that technology, but it is really, REALLY cool! That's a lot like being able to hit a site with a meteor!

Where it'll be interesting is in trying to develop a technology that'll withstand the initial acceleration so they can have some added guidance. Still, having something that much faster and powerful is just obscenely cool.

dddrrrrrooooooooooooooooooooollllllll......

[silveradept]

So the range on the guns increases to such that they don't even need to be particularly near the battle site to provide support. I wonder what kind of craters those shells will make when they touch down?