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Allen McDuffee writes the US Navy's latest weapon is an electromagnetic railgun launcher that can hurl a 23-pound projectile at speeds exceeding Mach 7 with a range of 100 miles turning a destroyer into super-long-range machine gun able to fire up to a dozen relatively inexpensive projectiles every minute. The Navy says the cost differential $25,000 for a railgun projectile versus $500,000 to $1.5 million for a missile will make potential enemies think twice about the economic viability of engaging U.S. forces. "[It] will give our adversaries a huge moment of pause to go: 'Do I even want to go engage a naval ship?'" says Rear Admiral Matt Klunder. "Because you are going to lose. You could throw anything at us, frankly, and the fact that we now can shoot a number of these rounds at a very affordable cost, it's my opinion that they don't win."
Engineers already have tested this futuristic weapon on land, and the Navy plans to begin sea trials aboard a Joint High Speed Vessel Millinocket in 2016. Railguns use electromagnetic energy known as the Lorenz Force to launch a projectile between two conductive rails. The high-power electric pulse generates a magnetic field to fire the projectile with very little recoil, officials say. Weapons like the electromagnetic rail gun could help U.S. forces retain their edge and give them an asymmetric advantage over rivals, making it too expensive to use missiles to attack U.S. warships because of the cheap way to defeat them. "Your magazine never runs out, you just keep shooting, and that's compelling."
(Score: 1) by Ethanol-fueled on Friday April 11 2014, @05:08PM
If you are as ignorant as you believe I am in the matter, then you are premature to dismiss my suggestion as "ignorant ranting."
Why were people who were caught trying to blow up one of our ships able to successfully carry out the same plot, in the same area, only months after their first and failed attempt?
If you're gonna ad-hominem without providing contradicting sources, and I can just turn around and say that it is you who is ranting because you believe America's government to be a lawful shining beacon of freedom and liberty without ulterior motive.
I am raising interesting questions, and I don't have all day to write a dissertation. Maybe somebody will and earn mod points answering those tough questions. By the way, I did attempt to provide an alternate link [thefreelibrary.com] but the full version is no longer readily available. Start digging, champ!
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bucc5062 on Friday April 11 2014, @06:23PM
There was no implication of ignorance and to use such is more inflammatory then helpful. These days I read too many times of people who post FUD type statements that may or may not be true, but little or no information is provided for a person to even begin to research. Since we're into fancy words your hyperbolic view of what I believe, without ever know who I am, diminishes your efforts to clarify your point.
You made a statement, a very accusatory statement "The U.S.S. Cole tragedy was allowed to happen". Who allowed it? it would have to be someone or someone(s) within the Navy to give orders keeping naval warships vulnerable. If that were the case then certainly there is more information out then speculative statements. I read that freelibrary link and the closest I could find to any implication was from the Yemen President and even he was just "wondering" with the results being "inconclusive".
I don't need to back up my belief that this was nothing but a terrorist act that had deadly success. I don't need to back up a belief that the Navy was not complicit in the Cole's attack for there is nothing to signify proof that they were. You ask me to prove a negative while I am asking you to prove your positive statement that the Navy allowed the Cole to be attacked.
As to my view of America, I lost the rose colored glasses a long time ago. I accept that our government lies and if/when someone or some organization puts proof out there of their lies I will take it in and value it against what I know and feel is right. What I won't do is live each day accusing this country of working in conjunction with Terrorists to kill american soldiers without some clear evidence to the contrary.
The more things change, the more they look the same