The US Navy’s Railgun Dream Is Dead

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The American Navy has decided to quit its promising project of an electromagnetic cannon. And while it worked it fell victim to the change of the strategy the United States.

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Image by Thomas H. from Pixabay

I have already written a few times about the fates of railguns that were being developed and tested by the American Navy. It certainly wasn’t an easy task to accomplish but there were lots of successes in its development. But now the dream ends. The US Navy decided to stop all financing to the project. Sadly, the project was overshadowed by other weapons such as hypersonic technologies.

While the Navy certainly wished to have an electromagnetic cannon that would fire projectiles at hypersonic speeds it seems to have come too late. The project ends without a chance for the railgun to fire off a single shot. But the US Navy still got a lot of useful technologies during its development that will surely find their own place in the development and modernization of other weapon systems.

According to experts, the railgun has fallen victim to the changes in the strategic goals of the US Navy. As American forces will fight less with terrorists and similar asymmetrical threats. It seems they will need to focus more on fighting other militarily advanced adversaries – mostly China. This forces the Navy to focus on faster weapon systems with a longer range that will be capable to hit both naval and terrestrial targets from a great distance.

In theory, railguns are safer and more practical than traditional cannons. Instead of using explosives to accelerate the projectile, they use the raw power of electricity and magnetism to fire at much higher speeds. In spite of their undeniable benefits, they came with a lot of complications. At this time, the US Navy has only three ships that would make sense to have railguns installed on them. And this won’t change until the twenties end when the Navy will start building the new generation of destroyers.

As offensive weapons railguns have relatively short range. Only 80 to 160 kilometers. That would put a weapon with a railgun on board vulnerable to a great number of anti-naval weapons including the Chinese rocket system DF-21D. And while railguns also have a defensive potential it can also be easily replaced with various rockets and flak systems.

The question now remains. Will this be the final word railguns have to say? There are definitely places where railguns could have a lot of potentials and they are still being developed by China, India, Russia, and Turkey. But all of these weapons are certainly watching the United States as a leader in military technologies. They will certainly consider whether railgun development is valuable or not.

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