It is at times like these that I am proud to be an American.

It is at times like these that I am proud not to be an American.

Its times like these I am PROUD to be an American. I can't wait to see that thing in combat action. Now they just need to throw some of those metalstorm guns on one of those ships destined for those railguns.

@ Waka - I hope the bullets have the american flag etched on them

What is with all the fire? A rail gun just uses electricity to shoot a metal rod; it doesn't seem like there should be fire involved. Maybe at the huge power levels needed for something like that shit just starts catching on fire, I guess.

@Rizzuh: @regnez: You can't really blame the Japanese for not being enamored by our weapons technology. (maybe Waka isn't Japanese, but he is apparently living there at any rate) We did, after all, kind of drop a couple of nukes on them.

@ninjashock: Not sure on the science behind it. But if you look closely there is only a blue flame (resistance to air maybe) until it hits something. It looks like what ever is trying to stop it is catching fire and slowing the projectile down. Please note that I'm not a scientist and could very well be talking out of my ass.

@ninjashock: I would imagine it's a bit like a meteor. it's just going so fast that friction with the atmosphere is enough to cause flames in it's wake.

It's difficult for us little people in the rest of the world to be impassioned by yet another new toy in American's military arsenal.

You're proud that a weapon that can kill even more people faster is at your disposal?. Well done. Congratulations. You guys are awesome. /sarcasm

Anyway. That aside..

As a scientist, I find this an interesting development. Surely 32-64 Megajoules would be more than enough energy to power some of the work DARPA's been doing on laser-cannon's

I'd lean more towards a diplomatic solution, but I'm old fashioned that way.

Oh well, LOOK OUT BROWN PEOPLE!!!

We are so going to need this to fight off the Borg.

America! Fuck Yeah!

Just remember when you have wiped all other people out you will have to start killing each other

@Rustydog: "start" killing each other? Where have you been?
Anyhow, it is cool tech, if you don't think too much about the whole death thingy. Maybe there'll be some neato spinoff tech from it that we can use to feed starving children or something. Oh, never mind.

@PhyrePhox: You bring up a good point. Wonder if there is any way a loaf of bread could hit mach 5.

@regnez:

You know, 1/3 of the parts say "Made in Japan"...

awesome.. a new weapon that's not nuclear or biological in nature. guns are fascinating machines, bombs fucking suck.

jobs is pissed off at the navy now for having a bigger boom than his. a job well done seamen

@burrito: I have to agree.
Incredible machines, if often improperly applied.

Excuse me, I meant "even if they are often improperly applied."

It's be cooler if they siphoned off a bit of the weapons's development budget and gave it to NASA.

Prepare for war, STRIVE for peace.

Obviously people aren't going to be happy about this but I'm still happy that we can keep up in weaponry. If it doesn't keep us safer then at least we can think it does.

See, its all about peace through superior firepower....

Despite my general libertarianism, I love how proud Americans are of their military gizmos. I would just like to blow things up.

@tutelary: FUCK YEAH!

@Balance_In_Life (PSN): Good call on the blue flames part, I didn't notice that. I suspect you're right. That makes this all the more impressive... a metal rod hits a metal sign and.... explosion ensues? Bizarre.

DO WANT

@regnez:
Agreed.

I have always heard of the possibilities of rail guns in past years, but it is nice to see that they are coming to fruitation.

Any guesses as to when Metal Gear will become operational? Looks like less than 20 gentlemen... I jest, I jest. Bi-pedal robots are too inefficient in design.

@Waka in Japan: In time either other nations will have developed the same tech or we will sell it to them, so being or not being an American is eventually irrelevant. You read a tech blog and don't want to be on the cutting edge?

Insert Nelson laugh here

@POPE JOHN PEEPS II AT 11/14/07 04:50 PM

So, basically the Navy just likes hiring guys to draw pictures of guns that aren't technically feasible to build yet.

There's a word for this... oh yah. ILLUSTRATED SCIENCE FICTION. Thanks, Navy.

ID rather have a railgun being developped then a new more powerfull nuke. I like how everybody is bashing us americans when you have other countries trying to get nuclear capability and restoring their nuclear capability.

Sorry to break the news to those of you in the rest of the world but it is because of the United States military and all those "toys" that you are free. Sorry Iceland and Denmark and all the rest. You have NO military to protect you from invaders.....because the US protects all of you from invasion....so enough is enough. If any nation ever invaded another that was "friendly" to the US....the United states would fight for the weaklings. Why do any of you people think China doesn't invade Taiwan and North Korea wont invade South Korea?...because of mighty France?...mighty Britain?....the mighty UN?....no. it is because of one nation....the united States.

@gaiking: Well said.

so how does this stop a terroist with a suitcase nuke exactly?

@greysky
this doesn't stop a suitcase bomb....thats what the CIA and FBI are for.

@CircusSeal: Except that NASA has their head so far up their ass that they'd probably use the money to fund the world's first moon-base pizza party. Give the money to a privatized version of the space program, then we can talk.

@gaiking: Yeah, China not invading Taiwan is working out great for the Taiwanese...and do you seriously think that America is the only thing standing between the world and the oncoming apocalypse? Arrogant much? There are reasons the rest of the world gets disgusted at us from time to time, and that's one of them.

@greysky: hopefully we catch him before he detonates, then shove the barrel up his ass and see how much drag the human digestive tract has on a super accelerated projectile. Dress him up as a cow and then send the video to gateway maybe...

@yossaraian....
China invading Taiwan would work out great Taiwan huh?..How is BEING INVADED and having your freedom taken EVER a good thing?...that is insanity.

I don't know when the oncoming apocalypse will arrive but I do know that the US is protecting alied nations NOW.

You know, I see a hell of a lot of people bitchin aobut how terible the United States is, but how many of those same bitchers are getting a freakin ton of handout money in foreign aid from the big bad meanie? I mean, I would just LOVE it, if for maybe one or two years, the President would cut all foreign aid programs just spend the money of the things that need fixing back here home. Yeah sure it would be a terrible humanitarian crisis, but judging from the attitude around the world, they dont want us around anyway, right?

Sorry for all the typos, My hands are cold, and I am grumpy at all the people that just dont get it. We aint perfect, but I think there is a reason people keep facing overwhelming difficult journeys / long, painful, protracted death for the chance of living here.

Hey I don't want to throw a spanner in the works but all this American flag waving and people seem to have for forgotten where this thing came from, BAE systems.... for all you guys out there who don't know what this stands for its BRITISH Aerospace.....

Japan guy: Oh what a difference 66 years makes, huh? What would the world have looked like if Japan had gone unchecked by the good ol' USA. We'll never need to find out because of weapons development like this.

Take a tour of the South Pacific sometime and see your country's old stomping ground before you decide what nation not to be proud of.

On a technical note, is the projectile actually igniting the air with the heat of it's passage?

If so, I can see why they wouldn't want to launch at full power!

Now in a vacuum that would be incredible.
Mounted in a space vehicle of some kind you could pretty much own the sky.

BTW: America rules, I just don't like how or what she's doing right now.

@strider_mt2k: I wonder how big a panel it would need to be solar? Just think, A green superweapon!

@Balance_In_Life (PSN):"Please note that I'm not a scientist and could very well be talking out of my ass."

The absolute best comment of all time!

I'm always amazed by the number of experts, scientist, and Nobel laureates that have time to comment of this site.

freaking awesome.

I can't wait 'til they can miniaturize it and make it like in Rifts.

There's actually a few things keeping China from invading Taiwan.

The main reason is China's lack of a powerful navy. To take back Taiwan, China would need to launch an amphibious assualt and take control of the island before the US could launch a counterattack. The longer the assualt takes, the more time the US has to come to the rescue. Take it quickly and the US basically has to walk away.

The 2nd big reason is China's fear of the Taiwan military, (paid for by the US,) especially their air force. Taiwan's AF is smaller but has superior pilots and equipment. The Taiwan AF would inflict massive losses on an invasion fleet.

The 3rd big reason is the fact that Chinese people consider the people of Taiwan their brothers and sisters. The idea of forcefully taking back Taiwan is popular with the politicans, but not so much with the people. Inflict too many casualties to Taiwan civilians, and China could be forced to deal with massive domestic unrest while the military is already busy fighting a war.

The last reason, and this is a big one, is the economic impact of invading a US ally. China's largest market for their products could literally disappear overnight.

The railgun is actually made by a British company, BAE Systems (used to be British Aerospace).

It's the precursor to photon torpedoes

Now did they solve the power problem? In the other article it's pointed out that the gun sucks 3 million amps per shot. Thats not too easy to provide, is it?

So why doesn't this projectile shoot in a spiral fashion like the one in Quake 3? Now THAT would be f'n awesome!

@Bender: Yah, but how long do you reckon THAT's going to last? China is poised to become the economic superpower in the world in the foreseeable future. And with all that money, they're going to be able to do darned near anything they please. (Kinda like we do now.)
Sure, we're easily able to invade Iraq and a slew of other third-ish world nations, but China?! Do you really think we're going to try to take them on?

The fire you see is a result of how rail guns work. There are two rails that are electrically charged in opposite directions. Behind the projectile sits an armature, which bridges these rails and the current creates a magnetic field that is repulsed by those around the rails. The result is FAST acceleration.

At these high currents, the armature vaporizes into a metal plasma, and it's this plasma that you see.

OMG railgun! Now we can play Quake for real!

Back to the topic at hand:
@ninjashock: I would imagine that all the flame comes from the heat generated by the impact. All that energy has to go somewhere, and even steel will burn if you get it hot enough...

@redman042: The Railgun is also featured in Enemy Territory QUAKE Wars.
Very effective in the multiplayer prequel as well.

Congratulations! You are all about to be erased.