US Navy considers electromagnetic railgun for futuristic new warship

Development of a futuristic weapon depicted in video games and science fiction is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to skip an at-sea prototype in favour of installing an operational unit aboard a destroyer planned to go into service in 2018.

The Navy has been testing an electromagnetic railgun and could have an operational unit ready to go on one of the new Zumwalt-class destroyers under construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine.

Admiral Pete Fanta, the Navy’s director of surface warfare, has floated the idea of foregoing the current plan to put a prototype on another vessel this year and instead put it directly on the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, though no final decision has been made.

“The Zumwalt-class is one of a number of options being explored for the electromagnetic railgun,” said Lt. Cmdr. Hayley Sims, a Navy spokeswoman. “Due to the size, weight and power requirements, some platforms will be better suited for the technology than others.”

Railguns use electricity instead of gunpowder to accelerate a projectile at six or seven times the speed of sound — creating enough kinetic energy to destroy targets.

It’s advanced technology that holds the possibility of providing an effective weapon at pennies on the dollars compared to smart bombs and missiles.

There has been talk since the inception of the Zumwalt programme that the massive stealth destroyers would be a likely candidate for the weapon because of its power plant. The USS Johnson will be the third and final destroyer in the Zumwalt class.