DARPA is working on a weapon called MAHEM (Magneto Hydrodynamic Explosive Munition) that uses a principle similar to Arthur C. Clarke’s fictional Stiletto, “a jet of molten metal, hurled through space at several hundred kilometers per second by the most powerful electromagnets ever built.”

MAHEM uses magnetic fields to propel either a narrow jet of molten metal or a chunk of molten metal that morphs into an aerodynamic slug during flight. Unlike Clarke’s Stiletto, they will come from a device that generates a powerful electromagnetic field from an explosion.