Chinese navy seems to have started testing railgun

The Chinese navy seems to have started testing a railgun. A large Chinese landing ship, the Haiyang Shan, has been previously seen with a partly covered large gun with a very large housing, which probably contains the electrical system.

The Chinese government has not officially disclosed the railgun’s testing or existence, but an official Chinese military website has now posted a video report featuring a Chinese researcher who played a role in the development of the electromagnetic launch technology.

According to the researcher, a breakthrough has been achieved, which was achieved with difficulty; it took hundreds of failures and more than 50,000 tests, Asia Times reported. The news website also reports that several Chinese newspapers have reported that Chinese railguns are on the way.

The US Navy started tests with a railgun in 2010, but so far this has not resulted in a working, operational railgun on naval ships. The prototype can launch projectiles at a speed of about Mach 6. Russia is also said to be working on the development of a railgun.

Railguns work by firing projectiles electromagnetically. The weapons have two rails in which a projectile or a metal case is placed in between. The acceleration of this is caused by a magnetic field, as a result of an enormous current that flows through the rails and the projectile. In principle, the projectiles can work without explosives, which increases safety on board ships. The destructive power comes from the kinetic energy.

Image from Asia Times, taken from WeChat.