"[A] railgun offers 2 to 3 times the velocity of a conventional big gun, so that it can hit its target within 6 minutes."
I'd expect that most projectiles decay exponentially toward a terminal velocity, so the impact of shooting a bullet faster is negligible when it's going to be in flight for 6 minutes. Anyone know whether that's true for long range projectile weapons these days?
Railgun ammunition is designed to lose as little kinetic energy as possible. After all, there's no point hitting someone with a non-explosive projectile unless it's moving fast.
I'd expect that most projectiles decay exponentially toward a terminal velocity, so the impact of shooting a bullet faster is negligible when it's going to be in flight for 6 minutes. Anyone know whether that's true for long range projectile weapons these days?