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Saturday, January 5, 2019

Navy

China says its navy is taking the lead in game-changing electromagnetic railguns

Warships and fighter jets of Chinese People's Liberation Army (PLA) Navy take part in a military display in the South China Sea April 12, 2018. Picture taken April 12, 2018.
China’s landing of a rover on the far side of the moon grabbed headlines around the world this week. Less noticed, the country’s state media reported on progress in another arena: game-changing naval weaponry.

The state-run Global Times said on Thursday (Jan. 3) that Chinese warships will soon be equipped with electromagnetic railguns that fire projectiles with “incredibly destructive velocity,” and that the underlying technology was based on ”fully independent intellectual property,” rather than designs copied from other nations. It cited a report that appeared Wednesday on China’s CCTV.

Using electromagnetic force, such guns are more accurate and send projectiles up to 125 miles (200 km) at 7.5 times the speed of sound. Because the projectiles do their damage through sheer speed, they don’t need explosive warheads, making them considerably cheaper.

The US Navy has conducted land-based experiments with such technology, and plans to also integrate it into future warships. Its research arm notes:

“Using a massive electrical pulse rather than a chemical propellant, the railgun can launch projectiles much farther than the 13-nautical-mile range of the US Navy’s standard 5-inch naval gun…

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