Electromagnetic Railgun

A railgun is a linear motor weapon that uses electromagnetic force rather than chemical propellant to launch a high-velocity projectile along a pair of parallel conducting rails, relying on the projectile's kinetic energy rather than explosives to cause damage. Railguns can exceed 3 kilometers per second, well beyond the roughly 2 kilometers per second ceiling of conventional powder guns. The United States Navy pursued a shipboard electromagnetic railgun program, with prototypes built by BAE Systems achieving a record 33-megajoule shot in December 2010 and a design goal of over 160 kilometers of range, before the Navy dropped funding for the program in its 2022 budget over technical challenges including rapid barrel wear.