The Chinese navy apparently has sent a high-tech electromagnetic gun to sea for tests.
(This first appeared last year.)
In December 2018, a photo appeared on the Chinese internet depicting what appeared to be a Chinese navy amphibious assault ship sporting a prototype electromagnetic railgun on its deck.
It’s difficult to confirm the photo’s authenticity and when and where the photographer took it. But the ship in the photo matches the vessel earlier imagery of the apparent test vessel for the Chinese navy’s new railgun.
A railgun uses magnetic force, rather than an explosive charge, to propel its projectile, potentially giving the gun greater range and destructive power than a conventional weapon if capable of.
Railguns, which have een in development in various countries for decades, require a lot of electrical power. So far that has prevented the weapons from entering front-line service.
But warship-builders are beginning to emphasize electrical-generation in their designs. That and better generators and power systems could allow railguns in coming years finally to transition from strictly experimental technology to front-line weapons.
