WASHINGTON, D.C. – Engineering studies to include an electromagnetic railgun on a Zumwalt-class destroyer (DDG-1000) have started at Naval Sea Systems Command, NAVSEA’s head said Thursday.

The USS Zumwalt, lead ship of a new class of advanced stealth destroyers, was commissioned on Saturday, October 15th with great fanfare. The knifelike ship, armed with two 155-millimeter guns and ...

Be that as it may, the Zumwalt is currently the only surface combatant in the U.S. fleet capable of generating the massive amount of electricity (as much as 78 megawatts) needed to operate a railgun.

In theory, a railgun would be safer and potentially cheaper to fire than traditional weapons. Navy plans have called for installing the railgun on the Navy's three DDG-1000 Zumwalt-class ...

The railgun is different from conventional weapons, ... “The Zumwalt-class is one of some options being explored for the electromagnetic railgun,” said Navy spokeswoman Lt. Cmdr. Hayley Sims.

The Navy has been testing an electromagnetic railgun and could have an operational unit ready to go on one of the new Zumwalt-class destroyers under construction at Bath Iron Works.

Photograph taken from a high-speed video camera during a record-setting firing of an electromagnetic railgun at Naval Surface Warfare Center, Dahlgren, Va., on January 31, 2008, firing at 10.64MJ ...

The U.S. Navy is finally canceling its electromagnetic railgun development program, after a long, ill-fated development. Here's why.

The Navy spent more than a decade developing the electromagnetic railgun and once considered putting them on the stealthy new Zumwalt-class destroyers built at Maine's Bath Iron Works.

Be that as it may, the Zumwalt is currently the only surface combatant in the U.S. fleet capable of generating the massive amount of electricity (as much as 78 megawatts) needed to operate a railgun.

Development of a futuristic weapon is going well enough that a Navy admiral wants to install an operational unit aboard a destroyer.