On Tuesday, I mentioned that the first contractor-made prototype of the electromagnetic railgun launcher will begin testing over the next few weeks at Dahlgren.  There are two prototypes in the testing phase, one made by BAE Systems, and another made by General Atomics. Here’s a photo of one of them being installed on a range on the base.

In the photo provided by the Navy, Gary Bass, from the Naval Surface Warfare Center in Dahlgren, uses a crane to maneuver a 32-megajoule version of the railgun prototype into place. The railgun is a long-range weapon that launches projectiles using electricity instead of chemical propellants and is planned for use on Navy ships.