Discussion on:

Video: Is navy's hypersonic railgun a game-changer?

This is nit picking I know, but the the word "adieu" (goodbye) in the
final paragraph should be replaced with "ado" (time-wasting bother
over trivial details )

Experiments to date have been with projectiles that are not only not guided, but not even explosive - hence, "bricks". Although the projectile experiences less maximum acceleration than 1 fired from an ordinary gun, it also goes through the intense electromagnetic field. So the projectiles may not be able to contain electronic fuses & guidance mechanisms.
The Navy is urgently in need of weapons to counter modern cruise missiles, which fly at high speeds - some supersonic - and at low altitudes (aka sea skimming), therefore leaving only seconds between appearing on radar & hitting a ship.

How do they generate and store the enormous power needed to fire one of these projectiles? I know there are huge banks of capacitors, but a typical destroyer is not designed to generate the electrical energy needed to charge them.

On its aircraft carriers the Navy wants to replace the steam catapults used to launch planes with what are essentially electromagnetic rail guns. However, this requires an entirely new class of aircraft carrier since current nuclear carriers simply do not generate enough electrical power for these new launch systems plus the power needed for advanced radar and other sophisticated defense systems. Even today, electrical power generation is a major limiting factor on our nuclear carriers.

The EMALS (ElectroMagnetic Aircraft Launching System) project is far enough along that the Ford class carriers are designed to use it instead of conventional steam catapults. The keel of the Gerald Ford was laid back in '07. The British Queen Elizabeth class will use a similar EMCAT.

Seems doubtful that a human could withstand the G-force of such a launch into orbit.

A projectile traveling at that kind of velocity doesn't need an explosive charge, the kinetic energy would be more than enough to destroy the target.

It makes sense

Very impressive. Lets hope our "competitors" of certain Asian persuasion don't get hold of it too.

This In reference to recent news that China has:

"an unprecedented carrier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles)."

It makes sense

Hello what video it is this? Can i add this video to my site? http://nipastudio.com/

They featured something similar in TF2. That one looked cooler and had a balistics velocity of mach 7. Also was scaled a bit bigger as it was mounted on a Navy destroyer.

I personally like this idea. Functionality wise, it's like a sniper rifle the size of a mortar cannon. Take out missles by "sniping" them out of the air.

The US doesn't have that many naval threats warrenting a gun of this caliber at the moment, but a ship-mounted model would be useful for taking out close to shore targets on enemy soil. Just have an on-site spotter equiped with a laser target designator to spot targets. Fires right through buildings. Want that tank gone? It's gone!

I noticed that this prototype model is flatbed mounted. I'm wondering what kind of power requirements it has and what the reload/coodown cycle is like. It'd be awesome to be able to rapid fire this thing. Having a portable truck-mounted production version that could run off a Diesel generator would be nice too.

"...or even help avert a doomsday scenario by taking out asteroids on a collision course toward earth." Balderdash. Consult any physicist (even a high-school teacher).

Can i add this video to my site? http://xn--pxabfadibpulegn5acbp7fn.gr/