Key Points and Summary – Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency says it efficiently fired a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun at a actual vessel in June–July, utilizing JS Asuka because the testbed.
-The gun launches non-explosive projectiles close to 2,500 m/s, promising lengthy vary, excessive penetration and fast hearth for missions like defeating hypersonic cruise missiles and sinking ships.
U.S. Navy Railgun Test. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Tokyo will share extra at November’s ATLA symposium and is pursuing cooperation with France and Germany, whereas eyeing U.S. collaboration.
-China can be advancing railguns; the U.S. Navy canceled its effort in 2021 after value and integration hurdles. Japan’s trial indicators the sea-railgun race may be very a lot alive.
Japan Has a Railgun (The U.S. Navy Doesn’t)
Japan’s Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) announced this week on social media that it performed a taking pictures check, in June and July, of a ship-mounted railgun.
“It’s the first time that a ship-mounted railgun was successfully fired at a real ship,” ATLA mentioned in its X submit, which included 4 photos of the check.
The War Zone reported back in April that the Japan Self-Defense Forces had put in the turret-mounted electromagnetic railgun on the check ship JS Asuka, forward of the check, and released a picture of it mounted. The report additionally said that Japan had been engaged on such applied sciences because the mid-2010s.
Also in April, Japan’s military announced that Vice Admiral OMACHI Katsushi, Commander of Self Defense Fleet (COMSDFLT), had visited the ship to “observe the latest status.”
Now, this week, the check has truly taken place.
A Successful Strike
Per The Japan Times, Japan has “conducted its first successful test-firings of a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun at a target vessel at sea.” The check has introduced Japan nearer to changing into the primary nation to deploy such a system.
The story added that the railgun had first been test-fired from a ship in 2023, though Japan has been finding out the opportunity of such a venture, way back to 2016.
The railgun technology is highly effective, per the Japan Times story, “uses electricity to launch projectiles at speeds much faster than conventional guns, thus enabling greater penetration power and longer firing ranges.”
The report added that Japan’s Defense Ministry is a couple of various doable purposes for the expertise: “Countering hypersonic cruise missiles, which are currently very difficult to intercept, and securing a highly penetrative anti-ship capability with rapid rates of fire.”
How It Works
According to Defence Blog, the railgun is “powered entirely by electrical energy, fires projectiles at extreme velocity.”
While conventional tank weapons “typically fire at an initial speed of 1,750 meters per second,” ATLA says the Japanese railgun can hearth even sooner, at 2,500 meters per second.
In addition, per Defence Blog, “because the railgun uses smaller projectiles and does not rely on explosive warheads, it is harder to detect and intercept.”
Japan is anticipated to additional talk about the railgun project on the ATLA Symposium in November.
Per an Interesting Engineering story concerning the Japanese venture, “early research focused on two technical hurdles that have stymied similar programs abroad: keeping projectiles stable at hypersonic speeds and reducing barrel wear caused by extreme stresses.”
China’s Own Railgun Efforts
The South China Morning Post reported in late 2023 that China has developed railgun technology of its personal and has a minimum of examined it.
“The shells shoot out of the barrel at 2km (1.24 miles) per second, which means any target within 100-200km is within its sights,” the report mentioned of China’s effort, which was developed by China’s naval engineers.
“War machines are slowly shifting from chemical power to electromagnetic power … [and] continuous firing rate is a crucial indicator of combat effectiveness for electromagnetic rail launch systems,” Professor Lu Junyong wrote in a 2023 paper for the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy on the Naval University of Engineering, as cited by SCMP.
Another SCMP report, this July, China’s military has proposed one other railgun resolution: “Cross-stacking two rail guns into one.”
“While the Navy’s electromagnetic rail gun has resolved power supply challenges, its firing power still falls far short of the targets,” a workforce led by Professor Lyu Qingao, affiliate professor with the Army Engineering University of PLA in Shijiazhuang, wrote in a paper cited by SCMP.
The patent was filed final yr for “electromagnetic rail gun with X-shape armature,” though the venture stays comparatively early in its growth.
America’s Canceled Railgun Project
The US spent a appreciable period of time making an attempt to develop its personal railgun venture, spending about $500 million over greater than 15 years earlier than in the end cancelling the project in 2021.
The venture began in 2005, however by no means reached the sector. BAE Systems and General Atomics have been the principle contractors for the venture.
“Given fiscal constraints, combat system integration challenges and the prospective technology maturation of other weapon concepts, the Navy decided to pause research and development of the Electromagnetic Railgun [EMRG] at the end of 2021,” the Navy introduced in July of 2021. However, the demise of this system had been hinted at beforehand, particularly when the White House’s fiscal finances pulled funding for the Gun-Launched Guided Projectile, which was a part of the railgun venture.
The War Zone had famous on the time that the Navy appeared to have zeroed out its finances request for the elements needed for the railgun.
But way back to 2018, military.com reported, Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson had testified earlier than Congress that “the barrel itself is probably the limiting case, the engineering on that, the materials required to sustain that power pulse, and the heat and pressure that’s involved in launching those projectiles.”
According to a Business Insider story, the next yr, Richardson had extra to say concerning the classes of the railgun venture.
“I would say that railgun is kind of the case study that would say ‘This is how innovation maybe shouldn’t happen,’” Richardson mentioned.
“It’s been around, I think, for about 15 years, maybe 20. So ‘rapid’ doesn’t come to mind when you’re talking about timeframes like that.”
International Railgun Cooperation?
Back in April of 2023, National Defense magazine reported, citing a senior Japanese official, that Japan was seeking to associate with the US on “ a railgun program that could be used to counter hypersonic weapons.”
In the identical story, Shigenori Mishima, vice commissioner and chief expertise officer on the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency, said that Japan had been finding out the expertise for ten years however may use some help.
“We could use help with the guidance system and power storage,” he mentioned, per the report. “Those are your strengths. We have strengths, for example, constructing the rails—in material sciences,” he mentioned.
Both of the contractors who labored on the US program acknowledged that the Japanese Ministry of Defense had contacted them. It doesn’t seem to be something got here of that, though National Defense reported this June that Kazumi Ito, principal director of the tools coverage division within the Japanese protection ministry’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, expressed hope that some cooperation with the US may ultimately occur.
Per The Defense Post, Japan announced an agreement with France and Germany in 2024 to work on railgun growth.
“Japan, France, and Germany concluded the Terms of Reference for the Cooperation on #Railgun Technologies on 30 May,” ATLA announced on X in May of 2024.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and movie critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia along with his spouse and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored 1000’s of articles that target politics, nationwide safety, expertise, and the financial system. Follow him on X (previously Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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