Science and technology

DAHLGREN, Va. A futurist weapon acquiring a test run by the Navy demonstrated its destructive power at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren.

In the presentation Thursday, engineers discharged the electromagnetic railgun at what they articulated was a platter power level: 10 megajoules.

The old railgun power-use record was about 9 megajoules of gun muzzle energy.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy to set up projectiles long distances - more than 200 maritime miles.

Because the railgun uses electrical energy and non gunpowder to open fire projectiles, it gets rid of the possibleness of blowups on ships.

The Navy hopes the railgun will finally replace the standard 5-inch gun on its ships. The weapon system isn’t expected to be deployedded until at least 2020.

[A watt second is delimitted as the free energy needed to bring forth one James Watt of electrical energy for one second.

The railgun tried Thursday really has a capability of 32 megajoules, but the Navy is slowlied building up the free energy level in a serial of trials.

That’s a quite a little of powerfulness, but with a new serial of electrically-powered ships coming up on line, the Navy figures bringing forth capacity will non be a job.

According to the Navy, the railgun, when full developed, will be capable to set up solid missiles at Mach 5, or about 3,700 miles per hour.]

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