Chinese warship spotted with possible electromagnetic railgun

February 8, 2018 - Photos circulating online appear to show the first experimental deployment of a new “supergun” aboard a Chinese warship, fuelling speculation that the weapon could be an electromagnetic railgun.

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The photos show the Type 072 III landing ship Haiyangshan with an unusually large turret on its bow, replacing the ordinary 37mm deck gun. There are also three shipping containers, which could contain some sort of power equipment, such as generators or capacitors.

Its barrel length makes the Chinese railgun similar in size to the BAE Systems 32-megajoule railgun built for U.S. Navy testing. The BAE system is designed to fire projectiles at speeds of Mach 7 – seven times the speed of sound – over a range of 160km.

The United States had earlier planned to install a railgun prototype on the USNS Trenton fast transport ship in 2016, but this was postponed for budgetary reasons.