General Atomics and Japan’s ATLA have put their concepts of railguns adapted for use as naval guns during the DSEI 2025 defence exhibition held in Japan.
After a general silence that lasted for some years in railgun development due to technical challenges, General Atomics and Japan’s ATLA presented their railguns during DSEI 2025, with the target audience being navies. X user Martin M. shared the photos of both railgun concepts.
While ATLA is not a surprise as it has been testing its railgun for a year, General Atomics is the opposite case as the U.S. seemingly cancelled the railgun development in 2021.
ATLA's Vision for Railguns
ATLA is envisioning a dual-service and dual-use railgun that can be used against both surface and airborne targets. The configurations include ship-mounted and truck-mounted (In a similar manner to SPGs). Against airborne targets like missiles, the railgun will employ airburst ammunition, scattering a large number of pellets travelling at high velocity to ensure the target will be hit and lose control.
So far, ATLA has tested a smaller-scale prototype onboard ships for demonstrations. However, the endgame will be a system that is comparable to modern artillery in size to achieve a desirable range and kinetic energy.
General Atomics’ Presentation of Naval Railgun
General Atomics’ infographic shown in DSEI gives more technical detail than ATLA. It is seen that General Atomics’ system will use 15 MJ pulsed power supply (one or more?) modules in 10’ ISO containers. The presented size and placement suggest that General Atomics is proposing its railgun in place of the Mk45 127 mm naval gun.
HVP on Conventional Guns as an Alternative
Despite their return, railguns have strong competition due to BAE Systems’ offer to integrate its guided HVP projectile into existing Mk45 Mod 4 naval guns. HVP offers the immense velocity and range options of the railguns partially but sufficiently for the time being.
The guided projectile has a low drag design, minimising the velocity losses and tail fins for course correction. BAE Systems intends HVP to be a dual-purpose ammunition to be used against surface targets and
incoming missiles. The U.S. tested the ammunition and BAE Systems stated to Naval News that various airborne targets had been successfully engaged.
Requiring little modification on the ship as long as the gun is presently coupled with a higher fire rate advantage of naval guns compared to proposed railguns, HVP is a stronger candidate for upgrading the firepower of warships in the short run for logistical and integration ease.
Author: Kaan Azman
Editor: Özgür Ekşi
