Senate committee terminates US Navy’s superlaser and railgun

Wired : Last Friday the Senate Armed Forces Committee approved its version of the fiscal 2012 defense authorization bill. With a $664.5 billion price tag, the bill cuts 1% from President Obama’s original request and terminates two weapons programs that are under development for the US Navy: the free electron laser and the electromagnetic railgun. Both projects, designed to shoot down incoming missiles at long range, had recently passed technical milestones, but the committee still regarded them as risky, especially in light of their eventual deployment aboard warships.