EM guns provide significant advantages over conventional gun and missile systems. These advantages include:
Faster time to the target and extended range – EM guns can reliably launch projectiles to muzzle velocities in the range of Mach 6-7+. A round fired at sea level can reach the horizon in 6 to 7 seconds and at that distance still be traveling faster than a conventional gun-launched munition at its muzzle.
Lethality without high explosives – In most cases, due to hypersonic launch, the round can achieve its lethality purely kinetically, eliminating the safety and logistic issues with explosives.
Multi-mission capability – Since the launch force and resulting muzzle energy can be controlled and tailored for each shot, an EM gun can launch a family of projectiles, with smaller, lower-cost rounds appropriate for cruise missile defense and larger rounds appropriate for ballistic missile defense (BMD) or precision strike.
Elimination of propellant – Because rounds are launched electromagnetically, propellant is not required. This results in much smaller rounds, providing “deeper” magazines in a given volume as well as improving safety and reducing logistics burden.
Lower Cost –The rounds are projected to be much lower cost than most current ship defense technologies.
High Fire Power – With deep magazines and high, sustained firing rates, EM guns can provide unprecedented fire power given sufficient power availability.
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