Study of Employing Railguns in Close-in Weapon Systems

The development of a small caliber electromagnetic railgun for use on naval ships for close-in anti-missile systems is considered recently. Railgun offers the advantages of high firing accuracy and high muzzle velocity and results in a longer intercepting distance for anti-missile mission. The goals are to destroy the new generation of anti-ship missile. In this paper, the requirement of naval ships to build a close-in weapon system for high speed anti-ship missile is analyzed. The feasibility of employing railgun on ships for close-in anti-missile systems is studied. This study focused on the railgun characteristics, and the pulsed power system needed to drive the gun. The hit and damage probability of railgun and conventional close-in weapon system are calculated and compared; in a result, railguns are suitable for close-in weapon systems.