US Navy mothballs Quake super weapon
 

We will never see its like after all

The US Navy has decided that the railgun weapon which was made legendary in Quake will not be fired in anger after all.

The US Navy spent $500 million to try to build a real one, according to Popular Mechanics, "using electricity and magnetism instead of gunpowder and chemical energy to accelerate a projectile down a pair of rails".

However it looks like funding for the railgun has run out without having sent a single weapon to sea, while pushing technology derived from the programme into existing weapons.

The move is part of the Navy's direction toward faster, longer-range weapons that are capable of striking ships and land targets in a major war. The Navy's budget request includes no funding for the railgun in 2022.

Railguns are theoretically safer than conventional guns, since they reduce the amount of volatile powder a ship stores. The projectiles are faster. However the Navy has abandoned development of the railgun after 16 years of work for some really interesting reasons.

https://fudzilla.com/news/53080-us-n...e-super-weapon