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How Japan’s hypersonic railgun could deter China’s naval ambitions (interestingengineering.com)

submitted 2 days ago by Icytrees@sh.itjust.works to c/wildfeed@sh.itjust.works

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At a time when control of Pacific sea lanes is contested, Japan is positioning its hypersonic electromagnetic railgun development as a strategic centerpiece, aiming to deter Chinese naval threats and shift the regional balance of power.

Tokyo’s latest demonstration, shown by state-run ATLA, displays a prototype railgun firing hypersonic rounds at a moving ship. As the projectile surged forward, the deck shuddered slightly under the silent electromagnetic pulse, while nearby crew members steadied themselves, their expressions a mix of awe and anticipation.

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[–] ulterno@programming.dev 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

200 rounds per barrel

That's a pretty respectable life for a railgun. Dunno what the material cost is coming up to.
Now, how well can it intercept?

[–] wizzor@sopuli.xyz 3 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Would be really interesting to learn about how stable the ammunition is in flight. I don't imagine it would be easy to have any kind of active stabilization or guidance and the gun itself is probably quite heavy, so hitting drones is probably a no go, but hitting ships...

[–] ulterno@programming.dev 1 points 22 hours ago

Yeah, now that I think about it, Mach 6 is not quite fast enough to intercept anything and lasers are probably more suited than this, despite their range and energy problems.
Of course, it being a railgun, not really expecting any sort of guidance in it. It's probably just a projectile.
Had it been around Mach 9 (~ 3km/s), I would consider it useful with a remote-release flak or sensor-assisted release flak for interception, as even tiny pebbles would be expected to disrupt nuclear armaments at those speeds.