■刀客

原文：

 The U.S. Navy's push to create a $500 million electromagnetic railgun weapon-capable of slinging projectiles at hypersonic speeds-appears to have come to an end. The service is ending funding for the railgun without having sent a single weapon to sea, while pushing technology derived from the program into existing weapons.

　The weapon is a victim of a change in the Navy's direction toward faster, longer-range weapons that are capable of striking ships and land targets in a major war.

 The Navy's budget request includes no funding for the railgun in 2022, The Drive reports.

 Electromagnetic railguns are decidedly different from conventional guns, cannons, and howitzers. Regular guns use the pressure from an ignited gunpowder charge to expel a projectile from the barrel, sending it flying on a ballistic trajectory. Railguns, meanwhile, using electricity and magnetism instead of gunpowder and chemical energy to accelerate a projectile down a pair of rails.

中譯：

 電磁軌道砲造價5億美元，能以極音速投射砲彈，此一美國海軍所大力推行開發的武器，似乎就要退場。美國海軍擬終止資助尚未在海上使用過的電磁軌道砲計畫，同時將源自此計畫的技術，導入現有武器中。

 美國海軍正朝武器速度更快、射程更遠、能在重大戰爭中攻克戰艦及陸地目標等方向發展，電磁軌道砲係此一轉變的犧牲品。

 美國媒體《驅力》報導，美國海軍2022年預算需求，未納列該軌道砲專款。

 電磁軌道砲顯然不同於傳統火砲、大砲及榴彈砲。一般火砲係運用點燃火藥裝藥產生的壓力，將砲彈從砲管推射出去，使其沿彈道軌跡飛行；電磁軌道砲則是運用電力與磁力，取代火藥及化學能，以增加砲彈在雙股軌道的推進速度。

（第1篇／共８篇）

-關鍵軍語-

 ※cannon:

 A large, heavy piece of artillery.

 ※charge:

 The quantity of explosive used in a single discharge.

例句：

 The propelling charge explosive train consists of the primer, igniter, and propellant.

 推進裝藥炸藥鏈，係由雷管、點火器及發射藥組成。

　嘉．言．語．錄

 The wise man thinks over everything, but with a difference, most profoundly where there is some profound difficulty, and thinks that perhaps there is more in it than he thinks. Thus his comprehension extends as far as his apprehension.

-- Baltasar Gracián

 聰明的人凡事均思考，尤其會窮究奥義，並思考是否尚有思慮不及之處。是以，顧慮愈周到，理解也就愈精到。

--巴爾塔沙·葛拉西安