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A Certain Actual Railgun - US Navy Shows Off Their Newest Weapon

The U.S. Navy Research Facility gave an inside look at its electromagnetic rail gun coming to a warship near you by 2020. The gun uses zero gunpowder, instead propelling slugs or huge missile-like projectiles at Mach 7 speeds using only electricity. Think Mikoto Mikasa from A Certain Scientific Railgun only on a much, much larger scale. Rear Adm. Matthew Klunder, the Chief of Naval Research, demonstrates the weapon in the video below.

The United States Navy has been researching and testing railguns for the last decade but the idea behind them dates back to the first patent filed in the U.S. by a French inventor in 1919. The projectiles used with a railgun are said to be significantly less expensive than its current missile counterparts. Thousands could be stored onboard Naval fleets for much less cost and weight load.

Source: CBS News