New photos have emerged exhibiting work being executed on the Japan Self-Protection Forces’ prototype electromagnetic railgun at present put in on the check warship JS Asuka. An at-sea check of the weapon on this configuration is predicted to return earlier than the tip of the month, if it has not occurred already. Japan’s continued developments on this realm stand in notable distinction to the U.S. Navy’s shelving of its promising pursuit of this class of weapons within the early 2020s after main technical hurdles emerged.
The photographs of Asuka and its railgun in port in Yokosuka, seen on the high of this story and beneath, come from @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM on X who initially posted on-line. The entire pictures had been taken on June 30. Extra photographs of the ship taken just lately are additionally circulating on-line. Asuka, a 6,200-ton-displacement devoted testbed with a warship-like design, first emerged with the turreted railgun on its stern flight deck in April.
A broad view of JS Asuka in port in Yokosuka with the turret railgun (seen right here coated) put in on its stern flight deck. @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM
The photographs present the shroud across the railgun eliminated in order that work will be carried out on the weapon inside. This confirms that the railgun put in within the turret on Asuka is extraordinarily comparable, if not similar, to a prototype that the Japanese Ministry of Protection’s Acquisition, Expertise & Logistics Company (ATLA) has been testing on land and sea for plenty of years now. TWZ had posited that this was seemingly the case primarily based on what was seen in earlier accessible imagery. How precisely the design could have advanced through the years is unclear.
A detailed-up take a look at the entrance finish of the railgun with the shroud eliminated. @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM
A take a look at the turret with the shroud across the railgun nonetheless fitted. @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM
A composite picture exhibiting, at high, close-ups of the muzzle finish and rear of the railgun now put in on JS Asuka as seen in beforehand launched pictures, and of a prototype railgun that ALTA has proven previously, at backside. ATLA/JMSDF
Additionally seen are what look to be a number of containerized turbines and/or capacitors, in addition to different delivery containers that might include further techniques or workspaces. Railguns, which use electromagnets as an alternative of chemical propellants to fireplace projectiles at very excessive velocities, have traditionally had vital energy technology and cooling necessities. These calls for imply that full railgun weapon techniques are usually bodily very cumbersome.
06/30/2025 試験艦 あすか 搭載しているレールガン整備中でした。
砲身カバーも外して砲身本体も見えました pic.twitter.com/PDLvXXsLgm
— (´･(ｪ)･｀) (@Gov_Vessel_fan) June 30, 2025
With all this in thoughts, TWZ beforehand famous that putting in the railgun turret Asuka‘s flight deck made good sense from a testing perspective, given the ample open area it provided. Integrating the weapon onto an operational warship in a standard method would require assembly the facility and cooling calls for, in addition to discovering adequate area beneath deck for the assorted elements, along with the time and sources for these extra in depth modifications.
An image of the railgun turret on JS Asuka that the Japan Maritime Self-Protection Drive (JMSDF) launched in April. JMSDF
Railguns current further challenges with regards to the wear and tear and tear of sustained firing of projectiles at very excessive speeds. As barrels rapidly put on out from excessive friction, the weapon’s vary and accuracy are degraded, and the potential threat of a catastrophic failure can emerge.
In previous testing, ATLA has reportedly demonstrated the flexibility to fireplace rounds at a velocity of round 4,988 miles per hour (2,230 meters per second; Mach 6.5) whereas utilizing 5 megajoules (MJ), or 5 million joules (J), of cost power. As of April, prior testing targets had included a muzzle velocity of no less than 4,473 miles-per-hour (2,000 meters-per-second) and a barrel lifetime of 120 rounds, in keeping with Naval Information. Stories say that ATLA has additionally been working to cut back the weapon’s energy necessities.
A Japanese prototype railgun is fired throughout at-sea testing in 2023. ATLA
In Could, Aviation Week reported that no less than one at-sea check of Asuka‘s railgun set up was set to happen someday in June. Yahoo Japan subsequently revealed a narrative saying that the testing window would span from June 9 to July 25. That very same piece stated that the check ship had been noticed departing Yokosuka on June 9, however it’s unclear whether or not or not any live-fire testing has but taken place.
Talking by means of an interpreter at a panel dialogue at DSEI Japan 2025, Kazumi Ito, principal director of the gear coverage division at ATLA, stated Japan’s railgun efforts had been “progressing,” however acknowledged “numerous challenges,” in keeping with Nationwide Protection Journal.
Regardless of the challenges, Japanese authorities have made clear they’re trying towards an operational naval railgun functionality sooner or later. Beginning on the DSEI Japan 2025 exposition earlier this yr, the Japanese Ministry of Protection has been publicly exhibiting a mannequin of a railgun in a turret with a way more streamlined design than the one at present on Asuka.
In a public presentation in 2024, JMSDF Vice Adm. Imayoshi Shinichi, ATLA’s director normal of Naval Programs, had additionally highlighted plans to combine a railgun on future 13DDX destroyers, that are anticipated to start getting into service in 2024. ATLA has beforehand proven an artist’s conception of a Maya class destroyer, also referred to as the 27DDG class, armed with a railgun, as effectively.
A graphic depicting a railgun put in on a Maya or 27DDG class destroyer. Japan MoD
The video beneath, which ATLA put out final yr, additionally depicts ground-based railguns mounted on vehicles.
As phrases of potential operational functions of both naval or ground-based railguns, these weapons maintain the promise of being potent anti-air belongings, along with having the ability to interact targets at sea and on land. As TWZ has beforehand written:
“In precept, a sensible electromagnetic railgun would supply a extremely succesful and versatile weapon system that may quickly interact a big selection of targets at sea, on land, and even within the air, and at appreciable ranges. Japan has beforehand expressed curiosity on this functionality explicitly to assist shield in opposition to incoming hypersonic threats. Such a weapon would additionally supply advantages when it comes to journal depth and value in comparison with conventional surface-to-air and surface-to-surface missiles, given the small measurement and decrease unit value of the person rounds.”
“On the subject of warships, specifically, the place bodily area is at a premium and the place choices for reloading missiles at sea will be at finest extraordinarily restricted, having a weapon system firing lower-cost munitions from a big journal and that may interact a broad swath of goal units could be a transparent boon.”
Japan is definitely not alone in making an attempt to show the capabilities {that a} railgun might supply right into a actuality. The U.S. Navy and the U.S. Military have experimented with railgun designs previously twenty years or so. The Navy was notably energetic on this entrance from 2005 to 2022, however in the end shelved that work within the face of persistent technical points. Deliberate at-sea testing was by no means performed after being repeatedly set again. Curiously, ATLA has reportedly met with U.S. Navy representatives about doubtlessly leveraging the service’s previous railgun work.
“In getting nearer to the deployment, I imagine the scope of collaboration [with the United States] can be expanded,” ATLA’s Ito had additionally stated throughout the DSEI Japan 2025 panel dialogue, per Nationwide Protection Journal.
Within the meantime, the U.S. Navy and the U.S. Military have already continued to leverage hypervelocity projectiles beforehand developed for the railgun to be used in typical naval and ground-based weapons. Utilizing the fast-flying projectiles for air protection functions, together with flattening incoming cruise missiles and drones, stays a selected space of curiosity.
US Navy briefing slide from the service’s abortive railgun program exhibiting how ships armed with the weapons (in addition to typical weapons firing the identical ammunition) might doubtlessly interact all kinds of aerial threats, together with cruise missiles, in addition to floor targets. USN A briefing slide associated to the Navy’s previous railgun and HVP applications. It exhibits how ships might doubtlessly interact all kinds of aerial threats, together with cruise missiles, in addition to floor targets, with HVPs fired by typical 5-inch naval weapons. HGWS/MDAC might have equally multi-purpose capabilities. USN
China, a significant competitor for Japan on each regional and world ranges, has been notably energetic in growing naval railguns, as effectively. A turreted railgun first emerged on a Individuals’s Liberation Military Navy (PLAN) ship again in 2018. How that growth of that design or different Chinese language railguns has progressed since then is unclear.
The Chinese language naval railgun that emerged in 2018. Chinese language web
Different nations, most notably Turkey, are additionally now actively pursuing railguns, together with for naval use. In 2024, Japanese authorities themselves signed a deal to cooperate on future railgun developments with their counterparts in France and Germany.
New particulars about Japan’s progress towards fielding an operational naval railgun could start to emerge quickly primarily based on the outcomes of the testing of the prototype put in on Asuka.
Particular thanks once more to @HNlEHupY4Nr6hRM for sharing the photographs of Asuka with its railgun with us.
Howard Altman contributed to this story.
Contact the writer: joe@twz.com
