I can't agree with this: "It's not like the technology behind railguns hasn't been stable and ready to use for decades now.", at least not in terms of practical

I can't agree with this: "It's not like the technology behind railguns hasn't been stable and ready to use for decades now.", at least not in terms of practicality. I did a bit more research on flight and found a similar comment from Wilbur Wright[1] about George Cayley. It is very different to be able to demonstrate a principle in physics (such as flight, or accelerating a piece of metal with electricity) and building a practical application of that principle. In many ways the time it takes between those two points is likely a good indicator of just how difficult it is to reduce the principle to practice. You yourself mention super capacitors, another comment mentions the rails, then there are the switching devices themselves, the wiring harnesses, the control system. That is why I'm pretty awestruck at the fact that they were able to make it work and get this close to being something they can field test. [1] "About 100 years ago, an Englishman, Sir George Cayley[2], carried the science of flight to a point which it had never reached before and which it scarcely reached again during the last century." -— Wilbur Wright, 1909 --- http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/cayley.html http://www.ctie.monash.edu.au/hargrave/cayley.html [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cayley https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/George_Cayley