One of these suckers could ruin your whole day!

DAHLGREN, VA. — The Navy set a new world record for the most powerful electromagnetic railgun when it fired a test shot here Thursday morning.

The gun fired an aluminum projectile at 10.68 megajoules. A joule is the work needed to produce one watt of energy for one second. A megajoule is 1 million joules.

Guests including Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Gary Roughead and Rear Adm. William Landay, head of the Office of Naval Research, witnessed the shot via a live video feed at the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren. The gun was launched from a control center after approximately four minutes of charging the electromagnetic rails. After the charge, the gun fired and witnesses saw a quick burst of flame as the projectile, traveling at 2,500 meters per second, or Mach 7, hit its target.

Damn -- that puts the lie to the old saying that "You can run but you can't hide". I do believe that running wouldn't even be an option, with the target truly being dead before it knew what hit it.

You can watch the video here -- just don't blink.

And I love the quote at the beginning.

"I never, ever, want to see a sailor or Marine in a fair fight."
Adm. Gary Roughead
Chief of Naval Operations

Bravo, Admiral -- and let's extend that wish to the Army and Air Force as well.

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Posted by: Greg at 01:36 PM | Comments (5) | Add Comment
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