The existing prototype weapon can fire solid spike-like kinetic projectiles, also known as Hyper-Velocity Projectiles (HVP), which destroy their targets by smashing into them rather than with an explosive warhead, at speeds up to Mach 6. The HVP program has now taken on a life of its own , separate from the railgun development, as a multi-purpose high-velocity ammunition type, which could include versions with high-explosive warheads , for conventional five-inch naval guns and land-based 155mm howitzers, too.

Regardless of what ship serves as the first test platform, an at-sea test would be a major step forward in the program. If the Navy can prove that the technology is practical and cost-effective, it could be a revolutionary development for naval warfare.

The HVP will use different sized sabots to keep it stable in the barrels of the railgun, five-inch guns, and 155mm howitzers, but the general dimensions of the projectile will remain the same regardless of the weapon firing it.

The Navy's has long had a stated goal of developing a final weapon design with a range of more than 100 miles. The service believes that railgun's hypervelocity projectiles and ability to hit targets, even fast moving ones, at extended ranges, could make it capable of performing air and missile defense roles, destroying ships at sea, and engaging targets on land. You can read more about the railguns potential capabilities here .

That we are starting to hear more about the railgun again and that the program appears to be making steady progress toward an at-sea test is not necessarily surprising. In January 2018, images began to publicly emerge of an experimental Chinese naval railgun mounted on a modified amphibious landing ship. There have been reports since then that the U.S. Intelligence Community is of the view that China's rapidly growing People's Liberation Army Navy could have railgun-armed ships in its arsenal by 2025 .

China's development of other advanced weapon systems, as well as similar work going on in Russia, has been a major driver of other aggressive development programs across the U.S. military, including air-, ground-, and sea-launched hypersonic missiles and new air-to-air missiles. It would make sense that Chinese advances in railgun technology would prompt the Navy to step up its own efforts. Chief of Naval Operations Richardson's decision to curtail public discussion about the railgun program was also part of a larger effort that was aimed, in particular, at making it more difficult for Chinese spies to gain any insight into Navy activities or steal sensitive information.

"We've learned a lot and the engineering of building something like that that can handle that much electromagnetic energy and not just explode is challenging," Richardson said at a gathering at the Atlantic Council think tank in February 2019, when he would have been aware of plans to move the railgun to White Sands and a possible new schedule for at-sea testing. "So we're going to continue after this, right? We're going to install this thing. We're going to continue to develop it, test it. It's too great a weapon system, so it's going somewhere, hopefully."

"We just need to get the clock sped up with respect to the railgun," he added, having noted that the program had been going on for nearly 15 years. "I would say that railgun is kind of the case study that would say 'This is how innovation maybe shouldn't happen.'"

But with the railgun now engaged in a new set of tests at White Sands and renewed talk of at-sea tests in the future, it certainly seems that the program is finally "going somewhere" after more than a decade of development.

Contact the author: joe@thedrive.com