In a fascinating display of futuristic weaponry, the U.S. Navy broke world records today with a railgun, a device that sent projectiles hurtling around a range at speeds of up to Mach 7 and up to 33 megajoules of energy transfered to the projectile.

This kind of weapon requires no explosion to get a projectile from point A to point B. Rather, a railgun uses an electromagnetic current to accomplish the task, and it does so at previously unimaginable velocities. The projectile, which is conductive, travels along a pair of metal rails as an electric current is passing through the projectile. The rails generate a magnetic field, which interacts with the current to move the projectile at extremely high velocities.

In terms of military use, a railgun projectile is faster than a guided cruise missile, doesn't require on-board explosives, is much cheaper to use and can hit targets substantially farther away. In fact, the Navy hopes to increase the railgun's current 100-mile range to 200 miles in the future.

The Navy has been working on railgun technology since around 2005. In 2006, it tested an 8-megajoule firing; in 2008, a 10.64-megajoule firing was conducted. Today's test, which was conducted at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, Virginia, broke all previous tests in a 33-megajoule firing.

Railgun technology is definitely still in the testing phase; we probably won't see railgun aboard Navy ships for at least the next 10 to 15 years.

In the meantime, here's a Fox News clip of the test: