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.
For the curious, the key specs mentioned in the article:
- Mach 6
- Range in “miles”
- 200 rounds per barrel
- Cap banks take multiple sea containers worth of space
200 rounds per barrel takes the gun into practical territory. I bet Taiwan could use a fozen of them.
Interesting to hear what the true range ends up being.
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?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…
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.
Didn’t I recently read a post about the practical limitations of railguns, which concluded that lasers are better?
For hitting drones and artillery shells? Almost certainly lasers win.
For hitting ships? Railguns, if the problems with the rails getting festroyed after a few shots can be fixed. The Japanese claim 200 shots per barrel. Whether that means just the rails or whole barrel is unclear.
Only you can answer that.
I can answer it but it has a 50% chance of being wrong.
No, that was a dream we shared.
Okay, it all makes sense now
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wunderwaffe
I’m sure you don’t care that Japan’s military still uses Rising Sun iconography. Maybe if you knew anything about UN resolutions, you might care that Japan remilitarizing is a death blow to any kind of global peace or security. This is not something to… …squee about. The UN Security Council members are specifically allowed to bypass it and do whatever they want if Japan remilitarizes. I’m sure despite not knowing that before I said it, you will respond with something stupid anyways. If we are to trust bellicose rhetoric alone (as we are expected to do with Japan here), then, no, this will not deter China whatsoever. It actually provides them cassus belli. Have you, by any chance, looked at the shipbuilding capacity of China? You may want to look at China’s shipbuilding capacity. China is a large country, inhabited by many Chinese. Your anime shows will not tell you this, but Japan’s primary strength is financial. You cannot eat or shoot money. You should listen to the RAND Corporation, the USA is well out of its depth in the Pacific…
Are you talking to me, specifically? 'Cause you’re not being very cool or respectful.
I posted an article, not my opinion on it.
Just wait and see
Wait and see what? What are we even talking about here?
I think he’s going to invade Japan.
Do you seriously think that anybody is going to invade Japan? You’re completely missing my point about the rail guns. They’re not even going to play a part in war with China. Japan knows this
Follow your usernames advice
Keep dreaming about railguns, it took a substantial amount of meth to make Hitler this delusional. Japanese and Western folks have no such excuse. When push comes to shove, these guns had better be targeting Dongfeng missiles. That’s how wars are fought nowadays.
动态网自由门 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Free Tibet 六四天安門事件 The Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 天安門大屠殺 The Tiananmen Square Massacre 反右派鬥爭 The Anti-Rightist Struggle 大躍進政策 The Great Leap Forward 文化大革命 The Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution 人權 Human Rights 民運 Democratization 自由 Freedom 獨立 Independence 多黨制 Multi-party system 台灣 臺灣 Taiwan Formosa 中華民國 Republic of China 西藏 土伯特 唐古特 Tibet 達賴喇嘛 Dalai Lama 法輪功 Falun Dafa 新疆維吾爾自治區 The Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region 諾貝爾和平獎 Nobel Peace Prize 劉暁波 Liu Xiaobo 民主 言論 思想 反共 反革命 抗議 運動 騷亂 暴亂 騷擾 擾亂 抗暴 平反 維權 示威游行 李洪志 法輪大法 大法弟子 強制斷種 強制堕胎 民族淨化 人體實驗 肅清 胡耀邦 趙紫陽 魏京生 王丹 還政於民 和平演變 激流中國 北京之春 大紀元時報 九評論共産黨 獨裁 專制 壓制 統一 監視 鎮壓 迫害 侵略 掠奪 破壞 拷問 屠殺 活摘器官 誘拐 買賣人口 遊進 走私 毒品 賣淫 春畫 賭博 六合彩 天安門 天安门 法輪功 李洪志 Winnie the Pooh 劉曉波动态网自由门
You’re going to need to redirect this message to the RAND Corporation. The highest levels of the U.S. military have far greater doubts than your slop permits you to.
Your English is almost good enough for this to make sense.
so what, japan is supposed to sit there while china builds up? or they’re supposed to rely on an increasingly erratic ally like the US to save them?
What anime shows are you watching that explain the historical dynamic between the Japanese and Chinese?
I’m sure you’re arguing with a literal Chinese shill.
yeeep
Did I say that or did I say that they’re buying dinky little water pistols when they’re itching to be struck with an ICBM? Because that seems like a much bigger issue than whether I personally support Japan’s remilitarization, which I just framed as a threat to global security. By essentializing Japan’s response to what you see as Chinese aggression, you’re just doing apologetics for fascism.
y’all keep forgetting that russia wanted to nuke you.
Zhenbao island remembers, maybe you should learn some history.
Pfft a rail gun doesn’t shoot water it shoots rails, obv
y’all keep forgetting that russia wanted to nuke you.
Zhenbao island remembers, maybe you should learn some history.
Russia wanted to nuke Canada?
apparently this was the wrong reply for the wrong person lol.
I mean I’m not saying they didn’t but I’m referring to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sino-Soviet_border_conflict
Ah, gotcha.
Russia just plays the “I’m not touching you” game with us in the north.
Fascism is when a country I don’t like produces military technology .
Fascism is when the United States bankrolls fascists, and scoops up all of their loot after the war. It seems like you’re unclear why the US is even allied with Japan in the first place. Is that how you think the world works: countries like each other, they love each other, they want to protect each other against the bad countries? I must be such a fun view of the world. Have you ever seen that Team Fortress 2 short where we get to experience the Pyro’s worldview?
Fascism is when countries with vested interests support each other.
Haha you’re actually bonkers. And have no idea what the fuck you’re talking about. Is japan rolling all over the south pacific threatening fishing vessels? ramming other vessels? no, that’s the chinese navy, having temper tantrums that anyone else dare use “their” south pacific.
You’re so deluded you probably buy into all the silly ass 9-line shit huh?
it’s all so silly. your real enemy still occupies your own cities, denies you the easy expansion to lands already full of ethnic chinese… but you’re too weak and stubborn to realize that losing a navy over Taiwan is a silly way to waste time when you could just go take Yongmingcheng back from the thieves who stole it from you. A lot more resources up there too.
Nah, you want to try to rollerskate up hill in the snow against a headwind. Bright.
