By David Alexander

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Navy is planning sea trials for a weapon that can fire a low-cost, 23-pound (10-kg) projectile at seven times the speed of sound using electromagnetic energy, a "Star Wars" technology that will make enemies think twice, the Navy's research chief said.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of Naval Research, told a round table group recently the futuristic electromagnetic rail gun had already undergone extensive testing on land and would be mounted on the USNS Millinocket, a high-speed vessel, for sea trials beginning in 2016.

"It's now reality and it's not science fiction. It's actually real. You can look at it. It's firing," said Klunder, who planned to discuss progress on the system later on Monday with military and industry leaders at a major maritime event - the Sea-Air-Space Exposition - near Washington.

"It will help us in air defense, it will help us in cruise missile defense, it will help us in ballistic missile defense," he said. "We're also talking about a gun that's going to shoot a projectile that's about one one-hundredth of the cost of an existing missile system today."

The Navy research chief said that cost differential - $25,000 for a railgun projectile versus $500,000 to $1.5 million for a missile - will make potential enemies think twice about the economic viability of engaging U.S. forces.

"That ... will give our adversaries a huge moment of pause to go: 'Do I even want to go engage a naval ship?'" Klunder told reporters. "You could throw anything at us, frankly, and the fact that we now can shoot a number of these rounds at a very affordable cost, it's my opinion that they don't win."

U.S. officials have voiced concerns that tight defense budgets could cause the Pentagon to lose its technological edge over China, Russia and other rivals, who have been developing antiship ballistic missile systems and integrated air defenses capable of challenging U.S. air and naval dominance.

Weapons like the electromagnetic rail gun could help U.S. forces retain their edge and give them an asymmetric advantage over rivals, making it too expensive to use missiles to attack U.S. warships because of the cheap way to defeat them.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy known as the Lorenz Force to launch a projectile between two conductive rails. The high-power electric pulse generates a magnetic field to fire the projectile with very little recoil, officials said.

The U.S. Navy has funded two single-shot railgun prototypes, one by privately held General Atomics and the other by BAE Systems. Klunder said he had selected BAE for the second phase of the project, which will look at developing a system capable of firing multiple shots in succession.

Current projectiles leaving a railgun have a muzzle energy of about 32 megajoules of force, said Rear Admiral Bryant Fuller, the Navy's chief engineer. He said one megajoule would move a one-ton object at about 100 mph.

"We're talking about a projectile that we're going to send well over 100 miles, we're talking about a projectile that can go over Mach 7, we're talking about a projectile that can go well into the atmosphere," Klunder said.

Ships can carry dozens of missiles, but they could be loaded with hundreds of railgun projectiles, he said.

"Your magazine never runs out, you just keep shooting, and that's compelling," Klunder said.

The 2016 sea trials will be conducted aboard the joint forces high-speed cargo ship because it has the space to carry the system on its deck and in its cargo bay. Officials said they would begin looking at integrating the system into warships after 2018.

Navy unveils super-fast, futuristic weapon

The electromagnetic rail gun can fire projectiles at seven times the speed of sound, officials say.
'It's not science fiction'

Despite a late boost from cold weather patterns, the sea ice extent is the fifth-lowest in more than 30 years.
When it hit its annual peak

Washington (AFP) - The United States and its allies warned North Korea against provocations as researchers reported potential radiation risks due to problems at the regime's main nuclear complex.

The United States, South Korea and Japan, meeting in Washington after a new period of tension, condemned North Korea's recent ballistic missile tests and called again for an end to the regime's nuclear weapons program.

The three nations "urged the DPRK to refrain from further threatening actions," said a US statement, referring to the North by its official name of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea.

South Korea has been on guard after North Korea's young leader Kim Jong-Un warned last week of a "very grave" situation on the divided peninsula as he accused Seoul and Washington of trampling peace gestures through joint exercises.

In recent weeks, North Korea has test-fired medium-range ballistic missiles capable of hitting Japan, conducted a live-fire drill along its disputed border with South Korea and apparently flew three rudimentary drones over the border to peer at Seoul's military facilities.

- Fears for reactor -

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Amphibious assault vehicles of the South Korean Marine Corps throw smoke bombs as they move to land …

A US think tank, reviewing recent satellite images, said Monday that North Korea's main Yongbyon nuclear site appeared to have suffered water supply problems due to heavy rain and floods last summer.

An unstable supply could pose radiation risks, especially at North Korea's first light water reactor, which is near completion, according to the US-Korea Institute at Johns Hopkins University.

The regime does not have experience operating the light water reactor and "the rapid loss of water used to cool the reactor could result in a serious safety problem," analyst Nick Hansen wrote on the institute's blog, 38 North.

North Korea has more experience with its restarted plutonium production reactor at Yongbyon but its "lack of airtight containment could lead to the escape of some radioactivity even in small accidents."

The published analysis comes after South Korean President Park Geun-Hye warned that Yongbyon could witness a Chernobyl-style disaster, one of a series of comments that enraged North Korea, whose official media accused her of speaking "nonsense gibberish."

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In this Oct. 5, 2011 file photo, portraits of North Korea's late leaders Kim Il Sung, left, and Kim …

The 38 North analysis downplayed the risks of a Chernobyl-scale disaster, saying Yongbyon was smaller than the Soviet-built station in Ukraine where a 1986 accident killed 30 people in an explosion and another 2,500 afterward in related illnesses.

"However, a radioactive release into the atmosphere or river would cause an expanded local area of contamination," the analysis said.

"Also, Pyongyang's likely lack of transparency could create a regional crisis, panicking the public in surrounding countries and raising tensions with governments anxious for further information."

North Korea knocked down a vital cooling tower in 2008 as part of a US-backed six-nation disarmament agreement. It has more recently vowed to boost its nuclear "deterrent" and conduct a "new" type of test in response to what the regime describes as US hostility.

- Concern on rights -

The US pointman on North Korea, Glyn Davies, held the talks with his counterparts Junichi Ihara of Japan and Hwang Joon-Kook of South Korea.

The three also pledged to focus on the "deplorable" human rights situation in North Korea after a UN commission said that Kim's regime was carrying out violations unprecedented in the modern world.

The three-way talks mark the latest return to diplomacy between South Korea and Japan, whose own relations are tense due to disputes related to wartime history.

US President Barack Obama recently held a breakthrough three-way meeting with Park and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of a summit in The Netherlands.

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U.S, allies issue warning to North Korea

Concerns escalate while a think tank cites potential radiation risks at Pyongyang's main nuke power site.
'Nonsense gibberish'

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. (AP) — Severe thunderstorms dumped heavy rains across the Southeast on Monday and caused flash flooding in central Alabama, where crews in small boats and military trucks had to rescue dozens of people from their homes and cars.

In Mississippi, a 9-year-old girl was swept away and killed after the storms dropped nearly 7 inches of rain there over the last two days. A possible tornado in another part of the state damaged homes and hurt seven people, and a motorist in metro Atlanta was found dead after driving into a creek swollen with rainwater.

Strong winds downed trees, power lines and snarled rush hour commutes. National Weather Service forecasters in North Carolina say video indicates a tornado touched down near the town of Belhaven in the eastern part of the state. Authorities say a pickup truck was lifted off the highway, injuring a man and his son.

In Pelham, just south of Birmingham, more than 4 inches of rain fell from 7 p.m. Sunday to 7 a.m. Monday. Police and firefighters rescued people who became trapped in flooded townhomes and a mobile home park.

Dozens of cars had water up to their roofs. Rescue workers wearing life jackets waded through muddy water nearly to their chests to reach stranded residents. Hundreds of more people in mobile homes on higher ground were isolated because water covered the only entrance to the complex.

Pelham Fire Battalion Chief Mike Knight said people realized at daybreak that the water, 7 feet deep in some places, was surrounding their homes. Some people had to abandon cars after driving into areas where the flood water was deeper than expected.

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Firefighters rescue a family from their home, surrounded by floodwaters, in a mobile home park in Pe …

"It's been a long time since it's done this, so people kind of weren't expecting it," he said.

A development of townhomes along a creek in Pelham also flooded, with some units getting 4 to 5 feet of water. Some residents went to their second floors to wait for the water to recede, while others evacuated.

Shannon Martin said she had water up to the top of her toilet bowl in her first floor. She and a friend waded through flooded streets to get inside and floated out some of her belongings in a cooler.

Martin, a renter, said she had insurance to cover her belongings, but doesn't know where she will live. "I just moved here," she said.

Marisa Franks sat on her porch at a town house on higher ground. She had no idea what was going on until a neighbor knocked on her door Monday morning to tell her to move her car. She said the water got up to her porch.

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Spectators walk off the course after play was suspended because of severe weather during the first d …

"This is a lot of flooding for Alabama," she said.

At an apartment complex in the suburb of Homewood, rescue crews used a boat to help several residents and pets get out of flooded first-floor units. Mudslides toppled trees and blocked several roads.

Some roads in Birmingham became impassable due to flood waters and fallen trees, and schools delayed opening in many areas of central Alabama due to the heavy rains.

At one point, Birmingham-based Alabama Power Co. reported 11,000 homes and businesses without electricity. That was cut to about 4,500 Monday afternoon.

In the Atlanta suburb of Lilburn, Gwinnett County firefighters were called to Jackson Creek after witnesses saw a car leave the road. The car soon was swallowed by the creek. A few hours later, firefighters with an inflatable boat found the driver dead inside, fire department spokesman Lt. Colin Rhoden said in a statement.

In Augusta, Ga., where the Master's golf tournament is being held this week, practice round play was halted Monday two hours after it began. It was the first time in 11 years that weather washed out a Monday practice round.

In Mississippi, the 9-year-old girl, Patrauna Hudson, was last seen playing in floodwater near her parents' house around 7 p.m. Sunday in Yazoo City, the Delta region northwest of Jackson. Yazoo County Director of Emergency Management Joey Ward said her body was found Monday night.

Ward said a neighbor saw her wash into a culvert. Ward said divers have cleared all the culverts and attention turned to a large canal.

Farther south, a possible tornado damaged homes in Covington County, where seven minor injuries were reported, the Emergency Management Agency said.

Dozens of people in Alabama have to be rescued from their homes and cars after heavy rains cause flash flooding.
2 people killed

NATO warns Russia against 'historic' Ukraine mistake

Donetsk (Ukraine) (AFP) - NATO warned Russia on Tuesday against making an "historic mistake" by stoking a flaring secession crisis in eastern Ukraine that Moscow itself conceded could spill into a civil war.

Ukraine's embattled interim leaders have been waging an uphill battle to keep their culturally splintered nation of 46 million together after last month's ouster of a pro-Kremlin president and subsequent loss of Crimea to Russia.

An eery echo of the Black Sea peninsula's crisis sounded on Sunday when militants stormed a series of strategic government buildings across a swathe of heavily Russified eastern regions and demanded that Moscow send its troops for support.

Ukraine mounted a counter-offensive on Tuesday by vowing to treat the separatists as "terrorists" and making 70 arrests in a nighttime security sweep aimed at proving the Kremlin's involvement in the secessionist movement.

An urgent deployment of security forces saw Kiev also regain control of an administration building in Kharkiv and the security service headquarters of Donetsk -- the stronghold of Viktor Yanukovych prior to his ouster as president and flight to Russia.

But the separatists still held on to the security service building in the city of Lugansk after breaking into its massive weapons cache and releasing several activists who had been accused of plotting to stage a coup.

And hundreds of militants remained holed up inside the Donetsk administration building a day after proclaiming the creation of a sovereign "people's republic" and demanding that an independence referendum be held before May 11.

The heart of Donetsk itself was a mesh of razor wire and hastily-assembled barricades of old tyres that could be set on fire in case the riot police decided to mount an assault on the regional government seat.

Ukrainian PM: Russian Hand in SecessionismPlay Video

But calm had returned to the city of Kharkiv after a night of violence that saw retreating militants throw Molotov cocktails at the administration building as hundreds of police regained control of it.

Interior Minister Arsen Avakov said upon his return to from Ukraine's second-largest city that the Kharkiv police -- its chiefs promoted under Yanukovych -- had in many cases worked with the militants.

"Instead of serving the motherland, a substantial part of the police force sabotaged the process," Avakov told reporters.

"I think many of them -- about 30 percent -- will be let go."

- NATO warns Russia -

The months-long crisis threatens not only to splinter the vast nation on the EU's eastern frontier along its ethnic divisions but also plunge Moscow's relations with the West to a low that may take decades to repair.

NATO chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen reaffirmed on a visit to Paris that Moscow -- its forces now massed along Ukraine's eastern frontier -- would be making an "historic mistake" if it were to intervene in Ukraine any further.

Why Russia wants turmoil in UkrainePlay Video

"It would have grave consequences for our relationship with Russia and it would further isolate Russia internationally," said the Western military alliance leader.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has vowed to use "all means necessary" to protect his compatriots in Ukraine and is now demanding a decentralisation of power that could push the east further out of Kiev's reach.

The Russian foreign ministry put still more pressure on Kiev by accusing it of making "military preparations (in eastern regions) that are fraught with the risk of unleashing a civil war."

It also alleged that the new leaders were deploying private security operatives from a US firm called Greystone whom it dressed up as Ukrainian special forces.

Putin has frequently accused Washington of trying to weaken his hand and once blamed the US State Department for the sudden surge in anti-Kremlin protests that hit Moscow in the winter of 2011-2012.

But the White House continues to point the finger of blame for Ukraine's mounting problems directly at Putin himself.

Washington warned the Kremlin on Monday to stop efforts to "destabilise Ukraine" and proposed it instead join four-way talks that besides the two nations and Kiev would also include the European Union.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov responded on Tuesday by stressing that any negotiations should also include representatives of Ukraine's southern and eastern regions -- a condition implicitly unacceptable to Kiev.

- Ukraine denounces 'terrorists' -

The West's growing concern underscores the trouble Kiev may have in bringing order to Ukraine's eastern industrial heartland -- a region with ancient cultural and trade ties to Russia.

Acting President Oleksandr Turchynov told a rowdy session of parliament that included fistfights between nationalists and Kremlin supporters that he intended to treat the pro-Russian militants as "terrorists" who will face the full brunt of the law.

"Our security forces did not use arms against peaceful civilians," said Turchynov.

"The authorities will treat separatists and terrorists who have picked up automatic weapons, who are seizing buildings, in accordance with the constitution and the law -- as terrorists and criminals."

Parliament then unanimously approved a bill doubling the jail sentence for acts of "separatism" committed by a group of people to 10 from five years.

burs-zak/rmb

Russia warns Ukraine against use of force

The warning comes after pro-Moscow activists seized state buildings in three eastern Ukrainian cities.
'Risk of unleashing civil war'