A cannon that fires shells at hypersonic speed

LONDON - The world’s mightiest cannon can fire shells seven times as fast as sound, destroying targets about 160 km away.

The hi-tech electromagnetic cannon hurls a nine kg projectile at speeds seven times as fast as sound.

“People see these things in the video games, but this is real,” said programme manager Roger Ellis.

A shot fired by the bus-sized gun at the Naval Surface Warfare Centre in Dahlgren, Virginia, US, generated 33 megajoules of force out of the barrel, a world record for muzzle energy.

It was more than three times the previous record set two years ago, reports the Daily Mail.

A single megajoule is roughly equivalent to a one-tonne car travelling at 160 kmph. The impact of the projectile hitting a target would be 33 times that force.

The bullet would take just minutes to cover over 160 km and would hit with pinpoint accuracy with a velocity that’s impossible in conventional guns, according to the warfare centre.

Instead of relying on an explosive propellant like gunpowder, the gun uses a giant surge of energy to drive the slug out of the barrel at speeds approaching Mach 8.

It doesn’t explode on impact but obliterates whatever it hits through sheer power.

Currently, US warships can only reach targets about 20 km away, but the navy hopes the new gun will allow attacks from a much safer distance.

Rear Admiral Nevin Carr, the chief of naval research, said the gun is so fast and accurate it could be used to turn an enemy’s own warheads against them.

But it will probably be another 10 years before the weapon is ready to be deployed on ships.

By 2025, scientists say the technology will almost double the power of the gun, enabling it to send a bullet 320 km in six minutes