U.S. Navy unveils electromagnetic railgun

North Korea might want to think again before test-firing anymore ballistic missiles in the coming years.
The U.S. Navy says its latest defense system could knock them out of the sky in the blink of an eye.
Kim Hyun-bin reports.

The U.S. Navy has unveiled the latest in state of the art missile defense.
Called the railgun, this long range weapon can fire projectiles using electricity generated from the ship instead of gunpowder.
The 250 million dollar project is expected to change modern American warfare.
The projectile itself weighs over 10 kilograms and can travel at seven times the speed of sound.
And it's powerful as well.
Navy officials say the impact is equivalent to a freight train smashing into a building at 160 kilometers an hour.

"It can shoot down ballistic missiles. It can shoot down very advanced cruise missiles. It can shoot down fast moving aircrafts. It's extremely safe and extremely effective".

Electromagnetic force accelerates the missile to Mach seven-point-five and has a range of 185 kilometers.
The beauty is not only the precision but the cost, the projectiles only cost 25 thousand dollars, a fraction of the price of a traditional missile.

"At the end of the day they can throw anything in the sky at us and we can knock it out of the sky."

The railgun will undergo further testing through 2016 before it becomes fully operational in 2018.
Kim Hyun-bin, Arirang News.