Americans to test supergun in Scotland

Very cool! Can always use a bigger and better gun!

7500mph shell can kill five miles away FURY OVER PLAN TO FIRE SHELLS AT MoD BASE

Jamie Macaskill Exclusive



AMERICA is to test a new secret supergun at a defence base in Scotland.

The electromagnetic gun (EM gun) will be tested at an experimental weapons range in Dumfriesshire.

The US Department of Defense believes the range at Dundrennan, near Kirkcudbright, is the only suitable location to test the new supergun.

But the move has sparked fury among concerned locals.

South of Scotland MSP Alasdair Morgan, an outspoken critic of the weapons range, yesterday slammed the US military's plans.

He said: "It is not as if America has a shortage of areas in its own country where they could test their latest weapons. I find it bizarre they need to do it here."

The MoD has faced complaints over its use of the range to fire thousands of shells coated with depleted uranium into the Solway Firth. There are fears the tests could be damaging the health of locals and the environment.

The EM gun is seen as a halfway measure before the US can perfect laser weapons.

Link

[edit on 16-1-2005 by Banshee]

A weapon with the balistics of mach 11.36 repeating..

I have played with some wildcat cartridges, but nothing that hot! Would be interesting...

This gun is pretty cool. Cant wait till it comes out on the battle field. Also I think another name for this gun is a "rail gun".

Oh...dundrennen.......i'm going near there around that time.....

DR....if wanna come and watch i know a great hill we can sit on with a few beers and watch them shoot the crap out of the seals around that area!

Honestly though...the locals ARE going nuts...but they agreed to live near a MoD base and they knew what that may involve!

Gryff

Oh...Advisor and Jetsetter....ur invited aswell!

That's amazing. 12,000 FPS is quick but...Check out this months copy of American Rifleman.

I just got it yesterday and it features a gun NASA is using to test shielding.

24,000 FPS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Now that's just crazy

[Edited on 24-7-2003 by Fry2]

Damn, and I always thought that .220 Swift at 4140 fps was a smoking round...

Where do all our fire-arms enthusiasts stand on the issue of whether the US Army should be testing it's new weapons on foreign soil? All you seem to be interested in is how "cool" it will be for them to be able to kill people faster.

But this may coincide, and possibly be apart of the same program.
www.abovetopsecret.com...

Just sprung to mind after I read your post.

And Cider, perhaps it has something to do with all the highlands?
Besides the rounds are probably clearing the Orkneys!

[Edited on 24-7-2003 by ADVISOR]

You are correct.

There must be a reason we're testing it there...vs. in the US. Perhaps it was manufactured there? If so, why move it?

It does seem odd that they would be testing it in Scotland. We still have an abundance of unused land here. My guess is that it's soma collabrative effort between the US and the British military or something.
Good question though.

Perhaps it's more safe there, as well as secluded. After all, testing it in States would draw alot of attention from people trying to investigate the "UFO Flack cannon" or something along those lines. I can just foresee the problems now...

I don't think the military need such a gun to kill people faster. But to intercept and kill a nuclear missile who's targeting a 1 million people town, it's a good weapon.

" Development started under Ronald Reagan's Strategic Defense Initiative - nicknamed Star Wars - in which the US military and scientists proposed using EM guns on satellites to shoot down enemy missiles.

Although shelved by Bill Clinton, research continued and the Dundrennan tests will mark the final phase of the weapon's development. "

Why is the military wasting money testing this kind of crap? All they have to do is go to the Stavatti website and buy a few million laser rifles and particle cannons for the low, low price of $5,000,000,000,000.95!!!

Dumfresshire is in the South of Scotland, nowhere near the Highlands, and is in comparison quite a densely populated area, so I can understand that the locals might not be very happy.

There must be thousands of square miles of empty land in the USA which would suit these kinds of tests, for example, the desert in Nevada/Arizona. Why test this weapon, which may or may not be environmentally unsound - it is after all only in the testing stage - in Scotland?

Oh don't worry about the environmental situation, they're probably just using Depleted Uranium. It's perfectly safe.

The weapon being tested in the United States would probaly draw to much attention to the weapon. If they test it in Scotland, not too many people with bother them. Also it is getting harder to test weapons in the United States. There is always some person worried about the enviroment. Damn "enviromentalists"

From what I read in the article it seems it could be a number of reasons.

It did state that the British were interested in the weapon. It doesn't draw near as much attention in this country by testing it in Scotland. There isn't a risk to damaging the environment in the US. (renewed nuke testing will cover that if Bush has his way )

It sounds cool and could lead to better uses of the technology (MagLev Trains, Launching Spaceplanes) but when fighting a group of terrorists toting AK-47s, does it really matter if the projectile is traveling 3,000 mph or 7,500 mph?

DR......great find!
I think many are under-commenting on the "implications" that this Electromagnetic (EM) Gun will bring to the future battlefield.

The future implications of the EM gun could pretty much spell the "end" to the tank's dominance era. This will most likely spell the end for ERA (explosive reactive armor) which are used to further aid a tank to survive on the modern battlefield. WIth the emergence of a 7,500 mph 'projectile', there will likely be no defensive maesure to counter such a 'projectile'.

In retrospect, the EM gun is so powerful that no armor, in existence today or on the drawing boards, will be able to effectively protect a MBT (main battle tank) and thus make them obselete like the battleships.....

Personally, I can't wait for the advent of "quad-lasers"....

regards
seekerof

[Edited on 26-7-2003 by Seekerof]

We have a perfectly good Marine aerial gunnery range here in Arizona where they could test this without making any "locals" mad. I wonder what the deal is that they need to test it in Scotland??