EM railguns still not ready for prime time...but lasers !!!

[Ace-Garageguy]

 

[Russell C]

I guess the Gatling Rail Gun is out, then.

I remember when the hype came out on these, where somebody was saying you could also be hurling softball size mini satellites into low orbit perhaps cheaply. But from what I learned from my dad who had worked at a test lab that used rocket sleds to test missile components for durability under hard acceleration, the impression I got was that the 0-to-60 time over the distance of a couple of feet wreaks havok on yer average dinky electronics-filled satellite. All looks good on paper until you start trying to work through the physics bugs ....

[MeatMan]

My first thought was that a weapon like that requires line of sight, and for that LOS to hold stable throughout the projectiles travel, which would only work if you're targeting fixed sites like buildings or bunkers. Since the projectile doesn't carry an explosive warhead, the hit would have to be dead-on to be effective. I did serve in the military but I'm no engineer, but that limitation seems a deal-killer to me. But hey, I've played video games with handheld rail guns, so what the hey! 🤣