Military Develops Electric Slingshot

The Navy's goal of replacing gunpowder with electricity got one step closer when it successfully test-fired its latest rail gun. Engineers at the Naval Warfare Center in Dahlgren, Va., recently fired their 10.64-MJ rail gun, launching an aluminum projectile out of the muzzle at 2,530 m/sec. It’s part of the Navy’s project to arms its ships with this new type of weapon. Over the next decade, the Navy plans to deploy newer ships that generate significantly more electricity. The Arleigh Burke Class destroyers, for example, were first deployed in 1991 and carry 7.5 MW of electrical generating power. The Admiral Zumwalt Class destroyers, which had its first ship just recently commissioned, will carry more than 10 times that figure, 78 MW. While much of that power will go to propulsion and life support, the ship’s crew will be able to divert power to newer systems such as rail guns when needed, unless the ships is traveling at flank speed. (It is estimated that the ship’s generators would have to burn 3 gallons of fuel to generate enough power for one rail-gun firing.) So it appears the Navy is building in the capacity to handle the rail