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The US Navy is about to test a new weapon, dubbed by the Navy’s research chief a “Star Wars” technology that will make enemies think twice that can fire a low-cost, 23-pound projectile at seven times the speed of sound using electromagnetic energy.

Rear Admiral Matthew Klunder, the chief of Naval Research, told a round table group recently the futuristic electromagnetic rail gun had already undergone extensive testing on land and would be mounted on the USNS Millinocket, a high-speed vessel, for sea trials beginning in 2016.

Railguns use electromagnetic energy known as the Lorenz Force to launch a projectile between two conductive rails. The high-power electric pulse generates a magnetic field to fire the projectile with very little recoil, officials said.

The US Navy has funded two single-shot railgun prototypes, one by privately held General Atomics and the other by BAE Systems. Klunder said he had selected BAE for the second phase of the project, which will look at developing a system capable of firing multiple shots in succession. Officials said they would begin looking at integrating the system into warships after 2018.