$ 25,000 per unit instead of the $ 500,000 to $ 1.5 million that a conventional missile costs is the main argument for adopting this new electromagnetic cannon as artillery. In addition, it fires very fast: by the end of this year it hopes to reach a rate of fire of 10 rounds per minute .
You can see it in action in the following video, in tests carried out by the ONR (Office of Naval Research), of the United States Navy.
Rail cannon
The railgun (rail gun) or electromagnetic cannon is a stun gun that shoots through a magnetic field speed metal projectiles to high. In this way, the use of explosives to be fired is avoided.
Thanks to an electric current, the projectile can thus be accelerated horizontally at a speed of 8,000 km / h (seven times the speed of sound) and at a distance of 160 km. All this with an energy of 32 megajoules, equivalent to the impact of 32 cars of one ton launched at 260 km / h . The power with which the projectiles come out is equivalent to about 23,000 times that of a 22 caliber bullet and twice that of conventional naval guns .