Key Points and Summary – Japan’s Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency says it successfully fired a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun at a real vessel in June–July, using JS Asuka as the testbed.
-The gun launches non-explosive projectiles near 2,500 m/s, promising long range, high penetration and rapid fire for missions like defeating hypersonic cruise missiles and sinking ships.
U.S. Navy Railgun Test. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
-Tokyo will share more at November’s ATLA symposium and is pursuing cooperation with France and Germany, while eyeing U.S. collaboration.
-China is also advancing railguns; the U.S. Navy canceled its effort in 2021 after cost and integration hurdles. Japan’s trial signals the sea-railgun race is very much alive.
Japan Has a Railgun (The U.S. Navy Doesn’t)
Japan’s Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) announced this week on social media that it conducted a shooting test, in June and July, of a ship-mounted railgun.
“It’s the first time that a ship-mounted railgun was successfully fired at a real ship,” ATLA said in its X post, which included four images of the test.
The War Zone reported back in April that the Japan Self-Defense Forces had installed the turret-mounted electromagnetic railgun on the test ship JS Asuka, ahead of the test, and released a picture of it mounted. The report also stated that Japan had been working on such technologies since the mid-2010s.
Also in April, Japan’s military announced that Vice Admiral OMACHI Katsushi, Commander of Self Defense Fleet (COMSDFLT), had visited the ship to “observe the latest status.”
Now, this week, the test has actually taken place.
A Successful Strike
Per The Japan Times, Japan has “conducted its first successful test-firings of a ship-mounted electromagnetic railgun at a target vessel at sea.” The test has brought Japan closer to becoming the first country to deploy such a system.
The story added that the railgun had first been test-fired from a ship in 2023, although Japan has been studying the possibility of such a project, as far back as 2016.
The railgun technology is powerful, per the Japan Times story, “uses electricity to launch projectiles at speeds much faster than conventional guns, thus enabling greater penetration power and longer firing ranges.”
The report added that Japan’s Defense Ministry is looking at a couple of different possible applications for the technology: “Countering hypersonic cruise missiles, which are currently very difficult to intercept, and securing a highly penetrative anti-ship capability with rapid rates of fire.”
How It Works
According to Defence Blog, the railgun is “powered entirely by electrical energy, fires projectiles at extreme velocity.”
While traditional tank guns “typically fire at an initial speed of 1,750 meters per second,” ATLA says the Japanese railgun can fire even faster, at 2,500 meters per second.
In addition, per Defence Blog, “because the railgun uses smaller projectiles and does not rely on explosive warheads, it is harder to detect and intercept.”
Japan is expected to further discuss the railgun project at the ATLA Symposium in November.
Per an Interesting Engineering story about the Japanese project, “early research focused on two technical hurdles that have stymied similar programs abroad: keeping projectiles stable at hypersonic speeds and reducing barrel wear caused by extreme stresses.”
China’s Own Railgun Efforts
The South China Morning Post reported in late 2023 that China has developed railgun technology of its own and has at least tested it.
“The shells shoot out of the barrel at 2km (1.24 miles) per second, which means any target within 100-200km is within its sights,” the report said of China’s effort, which was developed by China’s naval engineers.
“War machines are slowly shifting from chemical power to electromagnetic power … [and] continuous firing rate is a crucial indicator of combat effectiveness for electromagnetic rail launch systems,” Professor Lu Junyong wrote in a 2023 paper for the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy at the Naval University of Engineering, as cited by SCMP.
Another SCMP report, this July, China’s army has proposed another railgun solution: “Cross-stacking two rail guns into one.”
“While the Navy’s electromagnetic rail gun has resolved power supply challenges, its firing power still falls far short of the targets,” a team led by Professor Lyu Qingao, associate professor with the Army Engineering University of PLA in Shijiazhuang, wrote in a paper cited by SCMP.
The patent was filed last year for “electromagnetic rail gun with X-shape armature,” although the project remains relatively early in its development.
America’s Canceled Railgun Project
The US spent a considerable amount of time attempting to develop its own railgun project, spending about $500 million over more than 15 years before ultimately cancelling the project in 2021.
The project began in 2005, but never reached the field. BAE Systems and General Atomics were the main contractors for the project.
“Given fiscal constraints, combat system integration challenges and the prospective technology maturation of other weapon concepts, the Navy decided to pause research and development of the Electromagnetic Railgun [EMRG] at the end of 2021,” the Navy announced in July of 2021. However, the demise of the program had been hinted at previously, especially when the White House’s fiscal budget pulled funding for the Gun-Launched Guided Projectile, which was a component of the railgun project.
The War Zone had noted at the time that the Navy appeared to have zeroed out its budget request for the components necessary for the railgun.
But as far back as 2018, military.com reported, Naval Operations Adm. John Richardson had testified before Congress that “the barrel itself is probably the limiting case, the engineering on that, the materials required to sustain that power pulse, and the heat and pressure that’s involved in launching those projectiles.”
According to a Business Insider story, the following year, Richardson had more to say about the lessons of the railgun project.
“I would say that railgun is kind of the case study that would say ‘This is how innovation maybe shouldn’t happen,’” Richardson said.
“It’s been around, I think, for about 15 years, maybe 20. So ‘rapid’ doesn’t come to mind when you’re talking about timeframes like that.”
International Railgun Cooperation?
Back in April of 2023, National Defense magazine reported, citing a senior Japanese official, that Japan was looking to partner with the US on “ a railgun program that could be used to counter hypersonic weapons.”
In the same story, Shigenori Mishima, vice commissioner and chief technology officer at the Japanese Ministry of Defense’s Acquisition, Technology, and Logistics Agency, stated that Japan had been studying the technology for ten years but could use some assistance.
“We could use help with the guidance system and power storage,” he said, per the report. “Those are your strengths. We have strengths, for example, constructing the rails—in material sciences,” he said.
Both of the contractors who worked on the US program acknowledged that the Japanese Ministry of Defense had contacted them. It doesn’t seem like anything came of that, although National Defense reported this June that Kazumi Ito, principal director of the equipment policy division in the Japanese defense ministry’s Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency, expressed hope that some cooperation with the US could eventually happen.
Per The Defense Post, Japan announced an agreement with France and Germany in 2024 to work on railgun development.
“Japan, France, and Germany concluded the Terms of Reference for the Cooperation on #Railgun Technologies on 30 May,” ATLA announced on X in May of 2024.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist, and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review, and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, national security, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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