5400mph is 7920 ft/sec.
So how does that compare to other projectile speeds?
16”/50 battle ship projectiles - ~2700 ft/sec
.30-06 rifle bullet - ~2900 ft/sec
Rheinmetall 120mm tank gun ~5700 ft/sec
WWI German ‘Paris Gun’ ~12,920 ft/sec
So this rail gun is producing a 40% increase on velocity, compared to very high velocity modern artillery pieces.
It is a significantly lower velocity (60%) than the WWI Paris gun, which fired a projectile 10 times as large.
I'm not saying it isn't a great achievement, it is, but it is not producing unheard of velocities. The big plus is that it is achieving the velocities in a progressive acceleration curve that allows the use of on-board guidance, and it manages a total size and cycle rate that is tactically useful.
This has the potential to be the biggest development in naval warfare since nuclear submarines. I could see the reintroduction of armored ships, sporting rail guns and laser CIWS defenses. They would go in harms way without air support and put everything the enemy had within 300-500 miles of the coast in jeopardy (next generation 14,000 fps, guns).
I’ve discovered that the material I was referencing in my #22 had a typo (probably due to metric conversion).
The German Paris Gun velocity was ‘only’ 5400 fps, which negates, the point I made about conventional velocities that have been reached.
My apologies.
According to the Wikipedia, Das Paris-Geschütz only achieved 5400 ft/s.
It fired a 234 pound projectile 81 miles, achieving a maximum altitude of 26.3 miles, not exceeded until the V-2 in WW2. And it was about as accurate as the V-2 and ultimately achieved the same military outcome as the V-2.