A projectile can reach more than Mach 6 without the need for explosives, powered solely by electricity. This type of system eliminates traditional gunpowder and reduces the cost per shot drastically, but it also requires amounts of energy comparable to the instantaneous consumption of hundreds of homes. Therefore, for a long time various nations They have tried to get ahead of the rest with the same technology between eyebrow and eyebrow.
The return of an idea. In recent times, when people spoke of “rail” or “electromagnetic” all eyes They were heading to the tests made by Japan. Now the United States Navy has tried again an electromagnetic cannon, and it does so years after having publicly archived the program, in a move that reopens one of the most ambitious technological bets of the last decade.
The test, carried out at White Sandsdemonstrates that the system not only continues to exist, but also maintains a certain degree of operability. Plus: the return is not accidental and aims to a change of priorities in a context where speed and range are once again decisive factors.
Press the fantastic button. There is no doubt, the central idea could not be more clear and powerful: the United States has returned to press the button from science fiction by reactivating a weapon that fires projectiles through electromagnetic energy at extreme speeds, something very similar to what we have seen in fantasy literature and science fiction.
This type of technology, for years associated with futuristic prototypes, had been abandoned by its technical difficulties. Be that as it may, its reappearance indicates that what was previously experimental is once again considered a real option on the battlefield.
Promises and structural problems. He too called railgun It offers obvious advantages, such as greater speed, range and a lower cost per shot than traditional missiles. But precisely these advantages come accompanied by very specific challenges that explain why it was left aside at the time by the Americans.
For example, it requires enormous amounts of energy, complex cooling systems, and suffers accelerated wear on the barrel, which limits its sustained use.
The new context that changes everything. Furthermore, the resurgence of this technology is not understood without the current context of global military competition and eminently warlike climate.
The United States seeks to integrate this kind of railgun into future large shipshow could it be new class of battleships planned for the next decade. In parallel and as we have been saying, countries like japan either even China They are also advancing similar developments, which suggests that, now, a technological race around this type of weaponry is beginning to take shape.
From forgotten experiment to key piece. If you want too, what was once an archived program could now become a central element of naval warfare of the near future.
Because the simple ability to launch hypervelocity projectiles, even against advanced threats, would give a strategic value significant to any nation capable of solving the projectile’s conditions. And above all, it confirms a broader trend: that technologies that seemed too complex or premature they are returning to the scene because the strategic context It no longer allows them to be discarded.
Image | USN
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