For 600 years, naval warfare relied on chemical explosions to fire cannons. That era is over.
The U.S. military is developing a weapon that ditches gunpowder entirely in favor of raw electricity. The Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun is not science fiction; it is a physics-breaking reality designed to make current defensive systems obsolete.
Here is the truth about the weapon that redefines “firepower.”
How It Works: Pure Electricity
A traditional gun uses expanding gas from an explosion to push a bullet. A railgun uses the Lorentz Force
Massive electrical currents are dumped into two parallel rails.
A conductive metal slider (holding the projectile) sits between them.
The magnetic fields created by the current accelerate the slider down the tracks instantly.
It is not a “gun” in the traditional sense; it is an electromagnetic launcher.
The Specs: Mach 7 and 32 Megajoules
The numbers behind this weapon are staggering.
- Speed: The projectile leaves the barrel at Mach 7—that is over 5,000 miles per hour. It flies so fast it burns the air around it into plasma.
- Energy: It delivers 32 megajoules of energy at launch. For perspective, one megajoule is roughly the energy of a 1-ton vehicle moving at 100 mph. The railgun delivers 32 times that force instantly.
- Range: It can strike targets over 100 nautical miles away, keeping the ship safely out of range of most enemy counter-fire.
The “Kinetic Kill”: Why It Doesn’t Need Explosives
The most revolutionary part of the railgun is the ammunition. The projectile has no warhead. It does not explode on impact.
At 5,000 mph, you don’t need explosives. The sheer impact speed delivers a “kinetic kill.” Hitting a target with a solid metal slug moving that fast delivers the destructive force of a meteor strike, vaporizing metal and concrete upon contact.
The Strategic Advantage
Why spend billions developing this?
- Deep Magazines: Ships can carry thousands of inert metal slugs instead of hundreds of dangerous explosive shells.
- Safety: It removes volatile gunpowder magazines from the ship’s hull, making the vessel harder to destroy.
- Cost Per Shot: A railgun slug costs roughly $25,000. A tactical missile with similar range costs upwards of $1.5 million.