EM gun on the brink of fruition for land and sea applications After more than two decades of research, the science and technology behind electromagnetic (EM) rail guns has now advanced sufficiently to allow practical exploration of novel military applications, according to Dr Harry Fair, director of the Institute of Advanced Technology (IAT) at the University of Texas (UT). Speaking at the IQPC Future Artillery 2005 conference held in London in March, he told delegates that in the field of pulsed-power supplies, capacitor technology can now be considered mature, but still requires an excessive volume for land applications. Pulsed alternators...