Progress and Prospects of Railguns
Testing one of the American railguns, 2008. Photo by the US Department of Defense
In recent decades, several countries have been developing fundamentally new weapons — rail guns, or railguns. Such systems have a number of advantages over traditional artillery and are of interest to armies. However, their creation has encountered significant difficulties, and they have not yet been able to advance beyond testing at proving grounds and on experimental carriers.
Rail theory
The basic principles of a rail gun are quite simple. The basis of the gun are two conductive rails, between which a projectile or a moving element is placed to accelerate it. The rails and the projectile form an electric circuit. When current passes through this circuit, the projectile is affected by the Lorentz force. It makes the ammunition move along the rails, accelerate and fly towards the target.
The rail gun has a number of advantages over traditional barrel artillery. Thus, the rejection of a propellant powder charge allows for the optimization of the design. At the same time, the transition to electric power supply, in theory, allows for a significant improvement in energy characteristics and related parameters.
An experimental weapon of American design, 2010. Photo by the US Department of Defense
The most advanced railguns of modern design showed muzzle energy at the level of 30-32 MJ - twice as high as tank guns. In theory, further growth of the indicators is possible. Increasing the muzzle energy allows improving the main characteristics of the projectile being thrown. It is possible to increase the range of effective fire, accuracy, and also enhance the impact on the target.
At the same time, there are also objective shortcomings or difficulties. The main one is high requirements for the power supply system. It must have high power and produce it in the form of short pulses for a shot. In addition, the railgun carrier platform can impose restrictions on dimensions and weight. The creation of such power supply systems turned out to be quite a difficult task.
High power leads to increased loads on the gun structure. First of all, this leads to rapid wear of the rails, negatively affects the accuracy and concentration of fire, and also increases the overall cost of operation.
A separate and difficult task is to create ammunition for the rail gun. It must withstand high loads at launch and during flight at calculated speeds. To ensure high accuracy over the entire range of distances, a control system is required, which must also be resistant to existing external influences.
The HVP projectile, developed for ship-borne railguns. Photo by the US Department of Defense
Thus, when creating a fully-fledged combat-ready rail gun, it is necessary to solve a number of complex technical problems. Without this, it will not be possible to obtain high tactical and technical characteristics and any advantage over traditional artillery. In addition, additional unforeseen difficulties may arise at all stages.
Railguns for the army
Despite all the difficulties, the idea of a rail gun has long interested the armies of leading countries. Subsequently, the necessary theoretical studies began, and then full-fledged design work began. By now, a number of countries have presented their experimental railguns with various features and capabilities.
The first known full-size gun was built in the UK in 1993. It was deployed at one of the proving grounds and was actively tested over the next few years. The gun immediately showed fairly high performance, and was subsequently modified to improve its parameters. Testing continued until at least the early XNUMXs.
The destroyer USS Zumwalt, which was considered as the first carrier of the railgun. Photo by the US Department of Defense
In the nineties, the United States began developing combat railguns. Later, several Pentagon organizations had their own projects for such weapons, intended for combat ships and ground platforms. In the mid-2000s, the first prototypes reached the testing grounds.
The US Navy showed the greatest interest in rail guns. Several companies developed various projects of such artillery systems for them, including those suitable for installation on warships. The most successful models were able to move from the testing grounds to carrier ships. During testing, the most successful models reached an energy of about 30-32 MJ.
In the early 2017s, it became known that China was developing railguns. The first few years were spent on field testing and refinement. In 072, one of the railgun prototypes was installed on a carrier ship — the Project XNUMXIII landing ship Haiyangshan. A few months later, testing began at sea ranges.
Chinese installation on a carrier ship. Photo by Arstechnica.net
In 2015, the first information about a similar project of the Japanese industry appeared. By the beginning of the twenties, preliminary studies were completed and a full-fledged artillery installation was developed. Then it was tested and no later than 2022 was installed on a specialized experimental ship JS Asuka.
The first firings from the installation on the ship took place no later than autumn 2023. The railgun successfully hit targets. It was reported that the goal of the project was to create a gun with an energy of 5 MJ. In the future, they were going to create a more powerful weapon and, if the project was successful, begin to deploy it on warships.
It may become known in the very near future that combat railguns are being created in other countries. In that case, within a few years, news about their tests and demonstrated characteristics.
Ambiguous result
It should be noted that foreign railgun programs have not yet achieved all of their goals. Their creators have managed to develop, build, and test a number of prototypes, but the projects have not moved beyond testing. Moreover, some of them have been closed due to the lack of noticeable progress and dubious prospects.
Japanese-designed ship-borne railgun. Photo by Japan's Ministry of Defense
For example, the British railgun program actually stopped after completing the tests of the first full-size prototype. Since the early 2000s, there have been regular proposals to resume the work, but the military department sees no point in this and does not give the necessary permissions. This can be regarded as a rejection of a promising direction.
By order of the US Navy, various companies created and brought several rail guns to testing. Experimental models reached energies at the level of 30-32 MJ, and further improvement of characteristics was worked out. It was assumed that by the end of the XNUMXs such weapons would reach production and operation. The prospective Zumwalt-type destroyers were to be made carriers of rail guns.
However, already in the second half of the 2021s, the Pentagon became disillusioned with railguns. Despite the emerging progress, these projects began to be cut. Plans to deploy railguns on new ships were also abandoned. Finally, in 500, a decision was made to abandon this weapon, and no expenses were envisaged for it in the next fiscal year. It is curious that by that time, about $XNUMX million had been spent on railguns.
Japanese product undergoing testing, June 2025. Photo by The Warzone
The status and prospects of the Chinese project are still unknown. From time to time, the foreign press mentions it, but cannot provide all the detailed and up-to-date information. However, in general, China maintains an interest in weapons based on new physical principles. Therefore, it cannot be ruled out that work on the rail gun continues - albeit in a closed mode, typical for China.
Japan remains optimistic and continues to work on its railgun. Several years ago, the experimental setup was moved from the testing ground to the carrier ship. Subsequently, test firings were conducted. The next stage of testing took place in June 2025. Recently, new photographs of the experimental gun, taken during some work near the shore, became publicly available.
Without clear prospects
Thus, in the field of rail guns, clear progress has been outlined for quite some time. Using modern technologies and materials, several countries have developed a number of similar projects and even brought prototypes to testing. However, further progress has not yet been achieved.
Despite all the innovations and solutions to key problems, the railgun still remains an excessively complex product in terms of development and production. In addition, the practical value of such a weapon is questionable. Whether it will be possible to solve all these issues in the foreseeable future and bring railguns to practice is still unknown.
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