Railgun Installed On Japanese Warship Seen In New Photos

[USMC06RET]

Railgun Installed On Japanese Warship Seen In New Photos



New pictures have emerged showing work being done on the Japan Self-Defense Forces’ prototype electromagnetic railgun currently installed on the test warship JS Asuka. An at-sea test of the weapon in this configuration is expected to come before the end of the month, if it has not occurred already. Japan’s continued developments in this realm stand in notable contrast to the U.S. Navy’s shelving of its promising pursuit of this category of weapons in the early 2020s after major technical hurdles emerged.

The images of Asuka and its railgun in port in Yokosuka, seen at the top of this story and below, come from @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM on X who originally posted online. All of the images were taken on June 30. Additional photos of the ship taken recently are also circulating online. Asuka, a 6,200-ton-displacement dedicated testbed with a warship-like design, first emerged with the turreted railgun on its stern flight deck in April. More....

 

[ZeroFoxGiven]

I wonder if the cost, energy consumption, repeat strike capabilities, range, projectile size, charge time, maintenance, etc will surpass regular gun powder shell equipped turrets.

 

[bonesurf]

well projectiles cost nothing. it's think when the US Navy was testing them there were issues with the "rails" themselves not holding up? the energy could be generated, but it was hard to come up with rails that could put up with real world usage.

 

[ZeroFoxGiven]

well projectiles cost nothing. it's think when the US Navy was testing them there were issues with the "rails" themselves not holding up? the energy could be generated, but it was hard to come up with rails that could put up with real world usage.

Didn't we switch, at least publicly, to researching laser weaponry for defense and upped are ship launched missile game?

 

[bonesurf]

Didn't we switch, at least publicly, to researching laser weaponry for defense and upped are ship launched missile game?

yeah. lasers for close in because you are literally talking about unlimited ammo (as long as your power supply exists) and fewer current issues with the tech. and then upping the ship launched missiles cause we are actually good at that.

rail guns I THINK are still sorta problematic over the horizon (someone can correct me if Im wrong) cause well. they shoot a little too straight. and again, at least previously the US Navy couldn't figure out the rapid failure of the barrel/rails