"Projectile Flying at Mach 7" Claim
Used Only on Nuclear Ships...Questioning Practicality
The Chinese Navy has claimed success in developing a railgun, a project that the U.S. military had abandoned midway through development. This move is interpreted as an effort to showcase military strength amid ongoing tensions with the United States over Taiwan. However, since railguns require enormous amounts of electricity to operate and China is still developing nuclear-powered warships capable of supplying such power, it is expected that it will take considerable time before the weapon can be operationally deployed.
According to the South China Morning Post (SCMP) on the 23rd, researchers from the National Core Electronic Energy Research Institute at the Naval Engineering University of the Chinese People's Liberation Army announced in a paper published in the university's academic journal last November that they have succeeded in developing railgun projectiles. The research team claimed that these projectiles, propelled by powerful electromagnetic weapons, are smart munitions capable of changing the military landscape.
The researchers stated that the railgun projectile can travel 2,500 meters per second and can reliably receive signals from China's satellite navigation system, Beidou, maintaining an error margin within 15 meters. Although it is still difficult to target small moving objects such as tanks and missiles accurately, it is analyzed that the weapon can be used to attack large warships or ports.
The development of the railgun has attracted particular attention because the U.S. military had long pursued but eventually abandoned the technology. The U.S. began developing railguns for warships in the 1990s but terminated the program in 2021. Railgun projectiles cost about $25,000 each (approximately 33 million KRW), making them much cheaper than anti-ship and surface-to-ship missiles, which cost over $1 million per shot. Additionally, their speed, ranging from Mach 5 to Mach 7 or higher, rivals that of hypersonic missiles, drawing significant interest.
However, large railguns suitable for actual combat require an enormous amount of electricity?enough to power more than 20,000 households per use?so their deployment is extremely limited to nuclear-powered warships or aircraft carriers equipped with small nuclear reactors. In the U.S., the development stalled after the 2010s as hypersonic missile development gained momentum.
Therefore, it is judged that it will be difficult for the Chinese Navy, which is still developing nuclear-powered warships, to immediately install and operate large railguns suitable for combat. Nonetheless, amid rising tensions with the U.S. around the time of Taiwan's presidential election, this move is seen as an effort to demonstrate advanced military capabilities.
SCMP reported, "It is unclear why China chose to reveal this military advancement at this point," but also pointed out, "While the actual combat capabilities of these weapons need to be verified, some wargame simulations have shown that these weapons could challenge the traditional military advantages of Western countries."
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