The MAC Gun of Today
In the popular video game franchise Halo, humanity fights a galaxy wide war against a technologically advanced alien alliance dubbed "The Covenant." Battles between the two combatants rage from the surface of planets to the space in between planetoids. In these intership battles, one of the main weapons that future humans implement is a large weapon called the MAC gun. Standing for Magnetic Accelerator Cannon, the MAC gun uses electric currents to propel a depleted-uranium round through space to crash into opposing ships.
A similar style weapon is seen in other sci-fi works, such as Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and even as far back as Arthur C. Clark's 1955 novel Earthlight. In these instances, such a weapon is referred to simply as a rail gun due to its parallel, magnetic rails that accelerate the metal projectile. |
Diagram of a planet-side MAC gun
This technology has finally become a reality with the US Navy's Electromagnetic Cannon, or EM Cannon for short. Still in the prototype phase, the EM Cannon, according to the Office of Naval Research (ONR), can "launch projectiles at 4,500 mph," by storing electricity generated by the ship over several seconds. With the speed of sound at sea level being around 761 miles per hour, this means that a metal projectile is able to reach Mach 6. ONR also testifies that the EM Cannon has an operable range of over 100 nautical miles. The Navy is considering using it for a multitude of operations including, but not limited to, precise sea-to-land missile strikes, ship defense, and intraship combat. Because it relies solely on the kinetic energy of its impact, the projectile from the EM Cannon eliminates the post-conflict threat of unexploded missiles. (ONR) In the future, the Navy hopes to reduce the time it takes to reload the cannon as well as increase the operable range. At this moment in time, the Navy is looking into integrating it onto existing combat ships., with the next test scheduled in 2016. |