Railguns: The Next Big Pentagon Boondoggle?

For years now, Navy officials have been boosting a new technology, the railgun, as an ideal next-generation piece of artillery for America’s ships.

But there’s good reason to believe it won’t live up to the hype — and that it may be the U.S. military’s next billion-dollar blunder that never pans out.

Conventional guns, like those fitted on Navy ships today, use explosive propellants such as gunpowder to fire projectiles.

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