The Second Life of the Pentagon’s Magic Bullet

The US military's Hypervelocity Projectile is steadily inching towards combat.

Photograph taken from a high-speed video camera during a record-setting firing of an electromagnetic railgun at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., on January 31, 2008 (US Navy photo)

For nearly two decades, the US Defense Department chased a tantalizing dream that never quite panned out: an electromagnetic railgun capable of firing projectiles …