Electromagnetic railgun set for high-energy field trials

According to the US Office of Naval Research (ONR), field demonstrations will take place at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division’s new railgun Rep-Rate Test Site.

Initial repetition rate (rep-rate) fires of multi-shot salvos have been carried out at low muzzle energy and the next tests will increase launch energy, firing rates and salvo size. Railgun rep-rate testing will be at 20 megajoules by the end of the summer and at 32 megajoules by 2018.

“Railguns and other directed-energy weapons are the future of maritime superiority,” said Dr Thomas Beutner, head of ONR's Naval Air Warfare and Weapons Department. “The US Navy must be the first to field this leap-ahead technology and maintain the advantage over our adversaries.”

The railgun relies on a massive electrical pulse, rather than gunpowder or other chemical propellants, to launch high-velocity projectiles (HVPs) at distances over 100 nautical miles at speeds in excess of Mach 6. At that velocity the low-drag, guided projectiles to use kinetic energy for lethaility, thereby reducing the amount of high explosives required on ships.