The Type 072II Yuting-class tank landing ship Haiyangshan has set sail for possible testing in the open ocean. The navy warship is equipped with what appears to be an electromagnetic railgun.
According to Science Alert, the weapon mounted on the warship was seen along the Yangtze River at the Wuchang Shipyard in Wuhan earlier this year. According to a separate report by Task & Purpose, the latest photos of the test bed ship, which appeared on social media a few days ago, show the ship mounted with the suspected railgun on the vessel as it roams the high seas.
China’s futuristic electromagnetic railgun may already be the most powerful cannon to ever roam the high seas and is ahead of schedule. New photos appear to show the railgun perched on the bow of its test ship at sea. Chinese media outlets, such as the state-affiliated Global Times, revealed in March that nearly two months after the first pictures of what was dubbed the “Yangtze River Monster” showed up online, the Chinese People’s Liberation Army Navy is “making notable achievements on advanced weapons, including sea tests of electromagnetic railguns.”
In June, a U.S. intelligence assessment estimated that the Chinese military planned on using its own version of the electromagnetic railgun on naval vessels as early as 2025, far outstripping the Pentagon’s efforts to develop its own version of the much-hyped supergun.
Long time no see, the railgun test ship is spotted undergoing sea trials these days. pic.twitter.com/WdxXkyYWrF
— dafeng cao (@dafengcao) December 29, 2018
This is clearly the Haiyang Shan, the same Type 072III-class landing ship that was spotted back in January 2018 docked at the Wuchang shipyard in China’s central Hubei province, the largest of the People’s Liberation Army Navy’s inland shipyards and a major production hub for the country’s conventional submarines, reported Task and Purpose.
What the hell is this? pic.twitter.com/sQDAsHd7A3
— dafeng cao (@dafengcao) January 31, 2018
The Chinese railgun was first developed in 2011 and tested in 2014, however, a government-run news outlet claimed in February that the Chinese navy had achieved a “breakthrough” during the sea trials for the new railgun. The June United States intelligence assessment suggests the supergun underwent trials even earlier than the PLA said, with initial tests underway as early as December 2017.
The only advantage of a rail gun I can guess about would be a rail gun would have is longer range against surface targets with a non explosive projectile. Like any non explosive projectile, from a cannon ball to a rifle bullet, it would have less and less energy as the distance from its launch increases. Higher initial velocity may give it a slight advantage against close range fast moving aerial targets but not much more if any because the rate of fire would be slower than conventional anti aircraft artillery.
Maybe someone here knows more and can give a further analysis of them as they would be used in real world combat.
Definitely a range advantage, but also a speed advantage (if that mattered)
First strike against any boat = win
Looks like our fighter pilots and missile launchers will know where to aim. It takes about 7 years to build a ship this size, don’t panic.
Will this work or become just another boondoggle? Never forget that it’s MADE IN CHINA. Although Slick Willie gave away all of our technology to the Chinese back in the 90s it still remains to be seen how well they’ve done with that. No one will really know unless/until they start a war.
News Flash:
Chinese rail guns now on sale at Harbor Freight!
Oooah, I’ll keep my eyes open for a coupon!
sitrep:
– China has stationed troops in Panama to take over or destroy.
– China is taking over Africa. Strategic elements required for modern defense tech will be under China control.
– China- young, fit, military age males all over Dallas Texas in large numbers.
– Russia stationing nuclear capable bombers in Carribean.
– Russia always has boomer submarines off of East and West coast of USA.
USA military is too dependent on extremely expensive weapon systems that ca be destroyed by China weapons costing 1/10000 of the cost of USA platform. China also has thousands of those cheap systems that must be countered by the much more expensive and much fewer in number systems.
– China has infiltrated ALL technology made there. All of it is a bugging system for China Intel services.
– China is being allowed to buy USA colleges and place offices on university campuses.
– China owns ALL USA civillian aviation parts/manufacturers.
IS ANYONE PAYING ATTENTION?
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(My comments being banned by this sites filters.
Result: My last metals purchase not by advertisers here, that I have done prior business with. I wrote them and told them why. “I have put in my time to secure liberty. I’ll be damned if tech mafia censors shut me up. Piss on censorship in any and all forms.”)
– – Happy New Year 2019
I take it you’re not a big China fan?
2 people named anonymous having a dispute. Imagine that. Although the first anonymous did make some valid points. In response to the second anonymous, I’m not a China fan myself.
How is that a dispute?
I didn’t dispute anything that was said.
Guessing by the timeline post, I think it’s the same anonymous.
It’s not.
Anonymous could be a proud Chinaman. (Not you, the other one.)
And not to overlook one fundamental issue in military affairs. For the past fifty years the U.S. has spent a vast fortune on OFFENSIVE weapons systems whereas China and Russia have concentrated on DEFENSIVE systems… cheaper by a factor of ten times. The U.S. has 1,000 basses in over 140 nations, Russia has one base outside of their own borders and China has a few bases on tiny islands in their own neighborhood. Any being from another planet could see in a nano second who the aggressor is. And if that isn’t enough that same alien might notice that our “existential” enemy, Iran, last attached another nation 124 years ago…while we attached another nation…this morning, yesterday, the day after that…in fact of the past 239 years, since 1776, the U.S. has been killing people in foreign lands for all but 17 years. But hey! if you’re a true “patriot”, you probably think that we should start WWIII just so Russia or China can’t take credit for doing it first.
SEAL TEAM, OR SUB, OR OLLY BURKE EITHER WAY THE PROBLEM WILL BE SOLVED………
AS IF A THOUSAND LAND-FILLS ACROSS THE UNIVERSE ALL LET OUT A GREAT CRY OH THE HORROR OF NO MORE SLAVE LABOR AND PLASTIC PARTICLES TO BE CONSUMED.
OH AND YES MY NUCLEAR COOLING POOL HAS TWO WEEKS OF DIESEL BACKUP SO NO WORRIES THERE !
There actually are US engineering students who have made working prototypes of railguns and have posted some funny videos. They are cobbled together so they couldn’t handle a long duty cycle.
When the first gunpowder devices were invented, the technology spread rapidly. It’s impossible to keep the technology under wraps as someone always leaks details as well as spies find intelligence.
This is soooo 20th Century.
We’ve moved on to lasers now.
The Chinks better step up their industrial espionage game.
As an aside – nothing makes you a target like having a big-ass box thing on the front of your ship.
Lasers can only shoot in a straight line, useful against aerial targets and satellites if you can make them powerful enough but not against anything over the horizon on either land or sea.
A railgun can be fired accurately over the horizon because it is NOT a laser and is actually fired on a trajectory.
The speed of a space based particle weapon is much faster. Yes, we have them.
Well we have space-based tungsten kinetic bombardment ie Rods from GOD too.
Is this an Onion article? ;^))
Much like the pictures of the Chinese Aircraft Carrier, you know the one with the upswept bow to facilitate aircraft take off, this “ship” is a joke. What possible use would a Rail Gun be on an LST (Landing Ship, Tank)? Are they going to use the rail gun against possible shore defense battery’s during an invasion on a beach, which hasn’t been done since the Big War (WWII)…and one other thing about ship design which seems to have escaped the Chinese, if this picture is to be believed, you NEVER EVER put a large mass well forward of the ship’s center of pitch or well above the ship’s center of roll. Otherwise the first large wave that strikes the bow or side turns said ship into an instant submarine without benefit of water tight dogged hatches.
hush, dont tell them
There are numerous sites that show the rail guns in action. They are quite amazing in what they can do but in the end the plain old gunpowder guns reign supreme.
They use large capacitor banks that have to slowly recharge making them not very useful for the average hunter. Now there is squirrely guy who makes videos of his inventions, and he made a pretty terrific low cost steam powered rifle.
Mr. Teslonian liked to combine prepper ideas like make wood gas which then heated up a boiler which then generated steam and then propelled a projectile good enough that it had sufficient knockdown power. And do this inexpensively and in a handheld size. I think he took it down as irresponsible people might abuse it.
Such ideas may one day be necessary if they restrict ammunition and elements for reloading. Such ideas can be scaled up as artillery.
Remember that compressed air rifles are as old as Lewis and Clark and used to successfully hunt during that early exploration westward.
Well, as Dwight David Eisenhower once said…altogether now…”Always underestimate your enemy”…that’s how he got to be a five-star general.
Navy Vet, like I said earlier, looks like another stupid idea by the Red Chinese to me. Your post helps confirm my suspicions about the ship, maybe the whole Chinese navy. I suspect their military capabilities are really exaggerated.
You know they’re getting help with this. Clintons?
Makes me think of degaussing.