Dog Days Of Summer Feature Rail Guns and Things

Navy Pursuing Upgraded Railgun, Higher-Power Laser Gun By 2020

Am I a Navy guy? No way was I an ex gunny sergeant or a Seaman First class. But I do have an admiration for our nation's critical arm of the military. The new Navy is making whoopee with new weapons. Rail Guns and laser shots are not your Grandfather’s tools. The Navy wants tests on its auto load rail guns, having shells flying out at 10 per minute reaching up to 75 miles spot on targets. It is also going for 150 MW laser shots, that can bring down multiple incoming war heads or melting space space platforms monitoring the battle field. Energy for each is supplied by the ship's engine plant as exampled in the New DDG USS Zumwalt. Currently, the littoral fast attack boats such as the Independence are used for its weapons tests beds. Several littoral types have been tasked for duty for testing downsized weapons arrays of this class.

The Navy Test Platform for Weaponry destined for operational deployment is the Independence

The Year 2020 is a milestone year for the Navy as it will have completed the initial test and install for these weapons mentioned. 

One of two electromagnetic railgun prototypes on display aboard joint high speed vessel USS Millinocket (JHSV 3) in port at Naval Base San Diego on July 8, 2014. US Navy photo.

USNI News:

“Sometime in the very near future” the Navy will award a development contract for the larger follow-on system, a laser gun of 100 to 150 kw. That weapon will go out to sea for a demonstration by FY 2018, he said, keeping in line with the goal of transitioning technology from the lab to the warfighter as quickly as possible for operational testing."

USS Millinocket (JHSV 3)

The Navy is undergoing a Sea Change with its technology and is testing smaller class weapons on its Avant-guarde ships as depicted above. While by 2020 it will be upping its weapons class from 30 MW to a 100 - 150 MW configurations, meeting its intended weapons level.

What all this means it’s better to be in the US Navy than someone else’s Navy no matter where a boat floats or is dry docked.