mach 5/50, page-4

Here is a link to that article I spoke of, in it it clearly states:-

"Mach 5/50 is a collaborative research program funded by the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the central scientific research and development organisation for the United States Department of Defense."



http://www.dsto.defence.gov.au/attachments/ADS%20VOL%2015%20NO%203.pdf

And that was three years ago, not two as I thought, this would have to have advanced from that surely?

It is basically the Rail guns little brother, not quite as fast or heavy hitting but way ahead of anything else out there and much much lighter and cheaper than it's big brother, the Rail Gun, and also much more maneuverable, making it an ideal weapon on lighter tanks etc, the rail gun on the other hand is way too heavy to be used in the field, it requires two tanks, one for the gun and another for the power generator, not exactly light and air transportable, they would have exactly the same problem that they had with the Crusader.