Super-powerful Rail Gun in Development for U.S. Navy Warships

By Brock Vergakis

A super-powerful gun that shoots rounds more than 160 kilometres away — at several times the speed of sound — is being developed for Navy warships.

YouTube</a><br /> (27 Feb 12)</p> <p>The weapon is known as an electromagnetic rail gun. It consists of parallel rails and uses a magnetic field and electric current, instead of chemicals, to generate energy to fire the rounds.<br /> The navy said Tuesday an industry-built prototype of the gun is being tested at the Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Northern Virginia. It uploaded a video to YouTube demonstrating a test-shot as part of a month-long series of tests to evaluate the technology.</p> <p><a href="http://www.thestar.com/news/world/article/1138473--super-powerful-rail-gun-in-development-for-u-s-navy-warships?bn=1" target="_blank">Continue reading the article . . .</a></p> <p><a href="/super-powerful-rail-gun-in-development-for-u-s-navy-warships/" target="_blank"><img decoding="async" src="/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/icon-comment_on_blog_post2.jpg" alt="" width="330" height="43" /></a></p> </div></article> <div class="wpdiscuz_top_clearing"></div> <div id='comments' class='comments-area'><div id='respond' style='width: 0;height: 0;clear: both;margin: 0;padding: 0;'></div> <div id="wpdcom" class="wpdiscuz_unauth wpd-default wpd-layout-1 wpd-comments-open"> <div class="wc_social_plugin_wrapper"> </div> <div class="wpd-form-wrap"> <div class="wpd-form-head"> <div class="wpd-auth"> <div class="wpd-login"> </div> </div> </div> <div class="wpd-form wpd-form-wrapper wpd-main-form-wrapper" id='wpd-main-form-wrapper-0_0'> </div> <div id="wpdiscuz_hidden_secondary_form" style="display: none;"> <div class="wpd-form wpd-form-wrapper wpd-secondary-form-wrapper" id='wpd-secondary-form-wrapper-wpdiscuzuniqueid' style='display: none;'> <div class="wpd-secondary-forms-social-content"></div> <div class="clearfix"></div> </div> </div> <div class="wpd-login-to-comment">Please login to comment</div> </div> </div> </div> <div id="wpdiscuz-loading-bar" class="wpdiscuz-loading-bar-unauth"></div> <div id="wpdiscuz-comment-message" class="wpdiscuz-comment-message-unauth"></div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="mh-copyright-wrap"> <div class="mh-container mh-container-inner clearfix"> <p class="mh-copyright"> © Copyright 2025 Solari, Inc. 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