Originally Posted by
andytug
They have a nasty habit of destroying themselves, but if they can get it to work it's a fame changer, no nasty explosives to carry around and a shell that goes Mach 5 is impossible to defend against with current technology. It's a very very big if though.....
Think the Zumwalt is a bit different, it uses fancy hybrid shell/missile technology which is why the rounds cost $800k each, and since they're not building many more ships the supply of said rounds has dried up.
Well, as ever, part of the massive cost per round was the fact that they'd produce less of the rounds. I'd think laser terminal guidance would be useful for rounds like that but, accelerating to such huge speeds in short distances just kills anything mechanical so steering is always going to be hard work.
I had read that the US rail gun was shelved for cost savings.
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/02/photos-show-china-preparing-to-test-naval-railgun/