The Navy Is Testing a 5,600 MPH Battle Spike

It blasts through 10 steel plates like a warm knife through a wheel of brie. 

The US military has never lacked for eye-openingly terrifying equipment—on land, sea, or air—but this hypersonic flying spike might take the scary, scary cake. It’s called the Hyper Velocity Projectile, and was produced to work with the Navy’s new electromagnetic Railgun, though it can also be fired by traditional deck guns. The spike’s shape makes it incredibly aerodynamic, allowing for speeds that make the HVP immune to evasion—even from tens of miles away, an entire operation using it would take around 15 seconds. We’re sure the science is more complex, but to us, it looks like someone put a railroad spike in a cannon, which is exactly the kind of Wild West weaponry we can get behind.