Russian scientists conducted a successful test of a railgun

A Firefight and explosions – one of the hallmarks of modern warfare – sooner or later it will become a relic of the past. Military institutions begin to focus their attention on the development of new weapons based on electromagnetic conductors – railguns. Russia's interest in these developments are also not spared.

Recently, a team of Russian scientists has successfully tested the first prototype of a railgun, able to launch projectiles at a speed of 3 kilometers per second, which would be quite enough to penetrate any type of existing reservation.

Despite the fact that the railguns can be regarded as very good prospects for the development of the next generation of military artillery, in Russia this technology is being considered as one of the most potential ways to output into Earth orbit payloads.

Held at the joint Institute for high temperatures of Russian Academy of Sciences Shatura, Moscow region of the electromagnetic gun test showed that the system is able to disperse the projectile to a speed of 3 kilometers per second, just less than half of those figures that require rocket engines to overcome the force of earth's gravity. During the test, in a thick aluminum plate using the railgun was sent to the 15-gram plastic projectile. What came of it – you can see in the video below:

According to Russian scientists, and soon they will develop a device capable of launching projectiles at speeds above 4.5 kilometers per second.

Russia is not the only country where such developments. In the United States also has a working prototype of a railgun. However, the tests there are much larger shells. For example, in the case of the future of installation testing at sea using the railgun to supersonic speeds will have to launch projectiles weighing 20 pounds. For comparison, the current Russian prototype railgun capable of launching projectiles a thousand times smaller and with a speed of 11,000 kilometers per hour.

Instead of the usual powder in the railgun the necessary impetus to launch the projectile creates electricity. Due to the electromagnetic force (the Lorentz force) along the two metal rails (the "rail") runs a shell, able to cover much more distance compared to conventional artillery shells and cause very serious damage. Thanks to the installation of stabilizers in the rear of the railgun, a similar system can be used to engage moving targets such as ships, drones, planes or rockets.

Previous tests of the railgun on the West has shown that a 10-kg projectile at a velocity of 8700 kilometers per hour at a distance of 160 kilometers is able to break three concrete walls or six 12-millimeter steel sheets.