At-sea test of rail gun by Navy will face hurdles

Two years ago, the Navy announced it would test its futuristic rail gun in 2016 aboard a Joint High Speed Vessel, a transport ship for which admirals envision a variety of missions.

The test would mark the first time the electromagnetic weapon capable of firing rounds up to Mach 7 would be fired at sea, “symbolizing a significant advance in naval combat,” Navy officials said.

But senior Navy officials appear to be moving off that plan. Adm. Pete Fanta, the Navy’s director of surface warfare, has proposed forgoing the testing and instead putting it directly on the future USS Lyndon B. Johnson, the third and final ship in the futuristic Zumwalt class of destroyers. It’s under construction at Bath Iron Works in Maine, but is not expected to be completed until 2018.

Ongoing discussion

The Associated Press published a story on the project this week, creating buzz. But the discussion has been ongoing for more than a month. Matt Leonard, a spokesman for Navy Sea Systems Command, told the Washington Post on Wednesday that the service is “studying the pros/ cons of forgoing a 2016 atsea demonstration.”

The shift, Leonard said, is under consideration with an eye toward accelerating testing of the rail gun and the “hypervelocity projectile” it fires, which also might be fired from conventional 5-inch and 155mm naval guns.

Fanta told the independent Defense News newspaper late in December that he favored pushing back at-sea demonstrations rather than testing this year on an Expeditionary Fast Transport ship, the Navy’s new name for the Joint High Speed Vessel class. But the Navy won’t reveal the decision.

“What I’m finding is if I go ahead with the demo it will slow my development,” Fanta told Defense News. “I would rather get an operational unit out there faster than do a demonstration that just does a demonstration.”

Advanced weaponry

The Johnson has long been considered a frontrunner to carry that operational unit. More than a year ago, the head of Naval Sea Systems Command, Vice Adm. William Hilarides, told USNI News that engineering studies were underway to make sure the ship had enough power, space and cooling to carry a rail gun.

Also it was announced that U.S. ships and submarines capable of firing Tomahawk cruise missiles will likely be fitted with a variant designed to hit targets up to 1,000 miles away, according to a report published in the U.S. Naval Institute News.

Vice Adm. Joseph Mulloy, deputy chief of naval operations for integration of capabilities and resources told USNI News that surface ships would receive the upgraded missiles first, followed by submarines.