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At the end of May, a group of scientists from the Popular Army of Liberation of China announced a weapon more typical of fantastic literature: the world’s first coilgun Without condenseran electromagnetic canyon capable of reaching a fire cadence of 3,000 shots per minute. Japan responded weeks later with A rail cannon on the deck of your JS Asuka ship.
China has now redoubled the bet with a projectile worthy of science fiction.
The cannon of the future. China has taken a new step in the high -tech arms race with the development of an experimental electromagnetic canyon design (or Railgun) that promises duplicate power of fire and significantly expand its scope.
The key lies in an unprecedented architecture: the superposition of two cross -shaped railguns Within a single cannon, a kind of “double linear engine” with independent but coordinated magnetic fields.
A disruptive idea. The team of the associated professor Lyu Qingoo, of the University of Engineering of the EPL Army in Shijiazhuang, is the architect of this disruptive commitment that seeks to solve one of the critical limitations of current designs: the inability to generate sufficient energy Without damaging the system.
Indeed, when the current is excessive, the metal parts (such as the U -shaped armor that conducts electricity and launches the projectile) They melt o They are literally torn by magnetic forces comparable to a “field saw.” This phenomenon ruins the performance and destroys the rails. The new X system, with two armor and four crossed rails, aims to overcome this physical barrier allowing both units They act simultaneously without their fields interfere with each other, and all thanks to their perpendicular orientation.
The double armor design for the X-atun
Much more than an experiment. The improvement is not less: while the Chinese Naval Railgun, mounted in the Haiyangshan ship Since 2018, you can barely launch 15 kg projectiles (insufficient to sink a ship), the new land design aspires to accelerate projectiles 60 kg to mach 7reaching white 400 kilometers in just six minutes, with an impact rate greater than at least Mach 4.
This represents, in theory, not only an increase in lethal power, but a redefinition of use of this type as a long -range strategic weapon, capable of hitting from land to naval objectives, critical infrastructures or aerial positions in tactical depth.
Revolutionary The energy autonomy of each cannon, with its own circuit, allows Avoid thermal saturation and the short circuits that have condemned most of the western programs. In fact, even the United States has officially abandoned its Naval Railgun (for costs, complexity and the rise of Hypersonic missiles) and Japan is limited to Naval prototypes Low caliber, shooting projectiles of only 300 grams. China, on the other hand, persists in transforming an idea of science fiction into an operational war vector.
The limits. The design patent already has registered In China under the name of “X -shaped armor”, and represents the first documented attempt of stacking electromagnetic cannons in a cross vertical configuration. However, as the authors themselves warn, there are still technical obstacles. The call “Proximity effect”where neighboring electric currents can alter their behavior within drivers, could undermine system stability, generate efficiency interference or losses.
It is also unknown How will it affect The accumulation of heat, the wear of the rails or the precise synchronization between both circuits during the real shot. At the moment, tests have not been carried out in operational conditions, but if the tests confirm the viability of the system, we would be facing a weapon capable of changing the electromagnetic artillery paradigm: a gunpowder without gunpowder, without explosives, but with a hypersonic impact force that rivals the most advanced cruise missiles.
Future supremacy. If you want also, the development of this electromagnetic cannon is not only a technical advance: it is also a Geopolitical message. In a context of growing rivalry Technological and military, China shows that it not only continues in the race for the weapons of the future, but also leads in areas that others have abandoned.
Its pragmatic approach (combining innovation with reusable engineering) contrasts with the Western skepticism before high -risk projects. If the X-rail becomes deployed in real scenarios, it will be an unprecedented strategic projection tool: fast, precise, cheap (by shot) and extremely difficult to intercept.
Image | Handout, PicrylPla Army Engineering University
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