The Impact of Integrated Electric Weapons on Future Warship Design Using Conventional and Unconventional Hullforms

Recent successful tests of electromagnetic railgun and battlefield laser technologies have shown that high energy weapon systems are likely to be fielded, if not within the lifetime of the latest generation of warships, then certainly in their replacements. Such systems, representing a significant conceptual change from combat systems based on phased array radars guiding vertically launched missiles, will undoubtedly have a wide range of impacts on both the naval architecture and marine engineering aspects of future warship design. This paper will briefly review previous studies before describing the next phase of this ongoing research work. These studies highlight new options for specific combat system elements, alternatives for the provision of stored power able to satisfy the combat system’s considerable pulse shaping demands, together with strategies for thermal management across the vessel. In addition the application of future technologies to a multihull configuration, the TriSWACH, is also considered. This hullform, featuring a central hull with a narrow waterplane and outriggers for stability, offers potential benefits in seakeeping, deck area and innovative propulsion arrangements. The impact of this multihull configuration on the deployment of high energy weapons systems will be discussed.