U.S. Revives Railgun Tests

Missile salvos from the Middle East to the Indo-Pacific are exposing the limits of interceptor-based defenses, and the US Navy’s renewed testing of its electromagnetic railgun suggests a possible answer.

This month, The War Zone (TWZ) reported that the US Navy has resumed live-fire testing of its prototype electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) after years of apparent dormancy, conducting a three-day test campaign at White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico in February 2025, according to a Naval Surface Warfare Center (NSWC) Port Hueneme Division review document.

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While cost estimates of Iran’s Shahed-series one-way attack drones vary, they cost around US$35,000 per unit.

Further, Ari Cicurel points out in a July 2025 report for the Jewish Institute for National Security of America (JINSA) that Iran’s ballistic missiles, namely the Emad, Ghadr, and Khorramshahr medium-range ballistic missiles (MRBM), cost US$250,000, $5 million, and $8 million, respectively. Contrasting the price of US workhorse interceptors, Cicurel notes that a Patriot PAC-3 interceptor costs $3 million per round.

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