Defense has always been one of the most prioritized and focused aspects of a country. In order to protect themselves and to be able to combat an attack or initiate one, countries ensure a robust defense system. This also implies that the sector is allocated most of the budget proportion annually in most economies. With the passage of time, modern and innovative weaponry and war technology are being developed by countries to assert dominance in the global arena.
Such a modern form of weaponry was being developed by the United States Navy. It was the railgun which was supposed to fire in a projectile trajectory towards its target. However, recent updates have declared that the US Navy has officially put a halt on further progress on the railgun for the time being. Approximately, 500 million US Dollars were spent on the research and experimentation of the railgun.
Now, the focus is shifted towards the hypersonic missile technology which poses to be more suitable and practical for the US Navy. This is better than the railgun because a similar technology is being developed in China and Russia, giving USA a chance to catch up with the competition. Moreover, it requires a significantly less amount of funds and has a longer range than the railgun. Hence, it is only wise and pragmatic to prefer the hypersonic missiles to the railgun.
Railgun is the advanced form of cannons used earlier in the wars especially in the Ottoman Empire at the time of Sultan Mehmet II. However, when the siege was led around the walls of Constantinople, these cannons stopped being fully functional. It was a wise decision on the part of the US Navy as they did not have enough funds, time, resources, or a future guarantee of functionality for them.