Doctor of Philosophy / Railguns are highly complex multi-disciplinary engineering systems that use electricity to launch projectiles at very high speeds. This dissertation investigates new technologies, models, and theories necessary for the development of practical systems to bring the railgun out of the lab and into the field. The research focuses on improvements to the size, weight, performance, and efficiency of components of the railgun's power supply as well as improvements to its control. Extensive theories useful for the design and modeling of the system were developed with emphasis on scaling, efficiency, and physics. These technologies were experimentally demonstrated on a reduced scale railgun system.