'The U.S. Army is pushing ahead with plans to field railguns on the battlefield of tomorrow, awarding a leading railgun developer a contract to mature a ground-based railgun system. Rapid progress in miniaturizing railguns technology has transformed the hypersonic weapons from laboratory curiosities to potential weapons that promise tremendous increases in range and energy.'
Popular Mechanics

Companies such as BAE regard electromagnetic rail guns as being a real option for employment on the future battlefield. While practical applications have previously focussed on naval weapons (particularly in the US and China), land-based applications are now coming to the fore.

A rail gun uses stored electricity to generate sufficient energy to propel a projectile at very high velocity. Instead of a barrel, it is fitted with a pair of parallel conducting rails between which the projectile is accelerated by electromagnetic force.

Advantages: Velocities much higher than can be achieved with conventional guns means improved accuracy and longer range. No cartridge cases means reduced size and silhouette of the weapon platform. Smaller 'rounds' and an open breech means faster rate of fire. The absence of combustible propellant means increased survivability. And the list of advantages goes on.

Personal Involvement

In 1981, a friend in the Scientific Advisor’s Office gave me a tip. The Material Research Laboratories (MRL), following on from research conducted at the Australian National University, had constructed several rail guns. It was suggested to me that I could ask if they would give me simplified drawings to allow me to propose a project at the UK's Royal Military College of Science (part of the course that I was about to attend). I did, they did, and our project team subsequently built a scaled down demonstration model.

It was the first rail gun fired in Europe, as far as is publicly known. Our model used a plastic projectile, backed by a piece of aluminium foil as the armature. When the electric charge was switched from the capacitor to the rails, the foil was transformed into an ionised plasma, and propulsion resulting from its interaction with the magnetic fields generated between the rails. (It was a great relief when the target balloon was burst during the project presentation.)

Applications

We were captivated by the hypervelocity that was achievable. It was a surprise, therefore, when our research found that projectile velocity can be too high to penetrate armour effectively. Though overall, the fact that velocity had to be 'tailored' in terms of targets, was not really a disadvantage (just a matter of regulating the size of the current pulse before firing).

Theoretically, survivability in a ground-based application is increased as there is no propellant associated with the projectiles; however, the electrical energy has to be recharged, requiring a generator and a power source, though these can be separated in the design of the vehicle. There have been reports recently about China’s hypersonic glide vehicles… what better means to counter such a threat, than a hypersonic rail gun?

Conclusion

It cannot be denied that a revolution in battlefield weaponry is imminent. The day of conventional ballistics (i.e., propellant and cartridge cases) as the only solution across the board is long gone. Could a manned or unmanned vehicle incorporate an electromagnetic railgun? Most definitely.