Best Of: A Scalable, Adaptable and Powerful Weapon

By John Finkenaur

John Finkenaur is the Next Generation Technologies lead in Raytheon's Advanced Technology business. He has been with Raytheon for nearly 12 years, and his 25 year career spans both the commercial and defense industries.

For this year’s Fourth of July feature, The Cipher Brief revisits its coverage on electromagnetic railguns. Capable of firing projectiles at speeds of Mach 7 to strike targets over 100 miles away, electromagnetic railgun systems for the Navy and the Army are now reaching the final stages of development and could become operational for roles ranging from missile defense to naval surface warfare within the next few years. The Cipher Brief spoke with John Finkenaur, Director of Advanced Technology Programs at Raytheon’s Integrated Defense Systems business to discover just how revolutionary this new technology is, and how close it is to completion.

The Cipher Brief: Can you tell me a bit about the electromagnetic railgun and how you think this technology will shape modern warfare?

“The Cipher Brief has become the most popular outlet for former intelligence officers; no media outlet is even a close second to The Cipher Brief in terms of the number of articles published by formers.” —Sept. 2018, Studies in Intelligence, Vol. 62

Access all of The Cipher Brief’s national security-focused expert insight by becoming a Cipher Brief Subscriber+ Member.

Subscriber+

Categorized as:InternationalTagged with:

Related Articles

How Safe Would We Be Without Section 702?

SUBSCRIBER+EXCLUSIVE INTERVIEW — A provision of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that has generated controversy around fears of the potential for abuse has proven to be crucial […] More

Search

Close