Experimental studies of strain time history and fracture & penetration resulting from the high velocity impact of solid projectiles on solid targets have been initiated. Design, fabrication, testing and commissioning of an electromagnetic impact facility driven by a capacitor bank have been carried out in this regard. The facility presently has an induction coil gun driving a cylindrical hollow/solid projectile on to a target. 3–7 kJ capacitor banks have been used to drive the launchers. The parameters of the coil gun are in consonance with a computer code developed in‐house for the validation and optimization of the coil dimension and bank parameters. Systematic studies have been carried out for validation of code and understanding and benchmarking coil performance. Reproducible velocities of the order of 100 m/s have been successfully achieved with projectiles of masses 20 gm. Preliminary impact studies carried out on Alumnium target plates have given the strain time history.