Navy will build electromagnetic gun test site.

• Author: Pappalardo, Joe
• Position: Up Front

The U.S. Navy is preparing to break ground on a program dedicated to testing the science behind electromagnetic rail guns.

The Navy will begin the construction of a new building devoted to the project will begin construction this summer at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va.

The Navy said it hopes it can develop an electromagnetic rail gun by 2010, and possibly deploy it aboard the electric-powered DD-X destroyer. Rail guns require a pulse power system to get instant electrical charges needed to accelerate projectiles to hypersonic velocities. Its rapid flight time and 200-kilometer range make these guns a tempting option for future naval weapons.

Researchers at Dahlgren will be studying the power supply, pulse forming networks and the rails themselves, said Naval Sea Systems Command spokesman David Caskey.

"The basic physics have been around for 80 years," he said. "I think things opened up when the Navy decided their next generation ship would be electric."

If the EM gun works as promised, it would add considerable firepower to the DD-X, which already is being designed with two 155 mm guns that fire GPS-guided shells out to about 100 kilometers, half the expected range of an EM gun.

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