5,400mph superweapon

Star Wars gun can penetrate concrete walls 100 miles away

A LETHAL new weapon that can fire a shell at seven times the speed of sound has been successfully tested on land.

Described as ‘Star Wars technology’ by researchers, such a device has belonged solely to the world of science fiction for decades.

But now it is close to a reality with sea trials on a US warship planned in two years.

Using electromagnetic energy, the gun can fire a shell weighing 10kg at up to 5,400mph over 100 miles – with such force and accuracy it penetrates three concrete walls or six half-inch thick steel plates.

Two prototypes of the weapon have been developed for the US Navy – one by British arms manufacturer BAE Systems and the second by a US firm.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, head of US Naval Research, said the futuristic electromagnetic railgun – so called because it fires from two parallel rails – had already undergone extensive testing on land. It will be mounted on high- speed vessel the USNS Millinocket for sea trials in 2016.

‘It’s now reality and it’s not science fiction,’ Admiral Kunder said.

‘It’s firing. An electromagnetic railgun is a gun that uses just electricity – no gun powder – and … can shoot a projectile well over 100 miles at Mach 7. Energetic weapons, such as EM railguns, are the future of naval combat.’

Electromagnetic launchers were one of the areas researched by Ronald Reagan’s Strategic Defence Initiative, nicknamed ‘ Star Wars’ after the science f i ction film franchise.

Admiral Klunder added: ‘It will help us in air defence, it will help us in cruise missile defence, it will help us in ballistic missile defence … we’re also talking about a gun that’s going to shoot a projectile that’s about one one-hundredth of the cost of an existing missile system today.

‘It … will give our adversaries a huge moment of pause to go, “Do I even want to go engage a naval ship?”.’

Warships can carry dozens of conventional missiles, which cost around £600,000 each, but could be loaded with hundreds of railgun projectiles, at only £15,000 each.

The weapon uses speed rather than explosives to destroy its target and comes equipped with the menacing Latin motto ‘I, who am speed, eradicate’.

Using an electromagnetic force known as the Lorenz Force, the gun accelerates a projectile between two rails that conduct electricity, before launching it at ferocious speed. This means the railgun can fire further than conventional guns and maintain enough kinetic energy to inflict tremendous damage.

Railguns were first conceived of nearly a century ago and patented by French inventor Louis Octave Fauchon-Villeplee. Nazi Germany took up the research during the Second World War to adapt its anti-aircraft guns.