- June 19, 2021
- Posted by: Stratford Team
- Category: Business
The Navy plans to abandon its electromagnetic railgun, citing unsolved technological hurdles.
The service lacks a good way to store the energy to fire the gun and a barrel that can handle the strain, Vice Adm. Jim Kilby, deputy chief of naval operations for warfighting requirements and capabilities, told the House Armed Services seapower and projection forces subcommittee on Thursday.
“We have worked mightily since 2005 to bring the railgun to fruition,” Kilby said. “So far, it has not proved to be what we want to continue to invest in. There’s a challenge technologically there. It certainly has great promise, if we could close the fire control loop in a meaningful way and use it as an anti-ship missile defense piece. That’s complex right now and we don’t believe there’s a path to do that now.”
The concept of an electromagnetic railgun is “very virtuous” because it would allow a ship to use traditional missiles for offense and the…
