The citizens surrounding Dahlgren's Naval Surface Warfare base consistently have their dinner conversations interrupted by the loud "booming" noise of some sort of secret military project.
In the 1980's, those explosions turned out to be the constant testing of the extremely deadly Tomahawk missile; but in the 2010s, those shock waves have been caused by a very different, but even more deadly, weapon of the future.
Boaters and fishermen alike are even told by government authorities to stay out of specific locations, as the potentially deadly nature of this new weapon is so dangerous that it could easily kill a person miles away if an accident were to occur. BAE systems is in the mid stages of development for this loud weapon of the future.
"Yeah, I was just fishing one day and kept hearing these huge explosions," a local resident said, "Turned out we were past the bridge… Government didn't want us past the bridge. I remember hearing stories about shells landing in people's backyard, not sure if that was real or not… Definitely weird though."
This weapon, while in the early stages of its development, is known as an electromagnetic railgun. Unlike "normal" guns, where the explosion pushes the projectile forward, a railgun uses positive and negative magnetic fields to pull the charged projectile along a track. This harnessing of kinetic energy used to only exist in science fiction, but the famed magnetic "levitating" bullet trains of Japan showed that this technology was not only possible, but reliable as well.
When the projectile exits, it can hit a muzzle velocity of over 2,520 meters per second, more than seven times the speed of sound. With an ability to hit targets more than one hundred miles away, this devastating weapon is the future of warfare technology.
The Navy is keen to mention how this weapon will excel on land, sea, or air. The Navy is even intent on testing this new gun on a ship as soon as possible.
However; one of the more interesting details is that this gun does not require oils and lubricants in order to work properly. Lubricants on modern-day, conventional weapons are absolutely necessary in order to fire. The Navy has attempted multiple tests on guns in a zero gravity, freezing environment and, at best, most guns seize up after one or two shots. The lubricants and oils all float into little spheres, making modern day guns worthless in space.
This gun, however, is a different story. This electromagnetic railgun would work perfectly on a spaceship, or a satellite orbiting the Earth. If the Navy was ever interested in making more than seaworthy ships.
As the people in surrounding homes of the Dahlgren Naval base continue to live with the constant explosions, at least they know something super awesome is being created — albeit something a bit on the terrifying side.
