Article with the contribution of Yoshihiro Imada, Nathan Gain and Xavier Vavasseur.
All efforts came to life recently with a new milestone when three MoDs (France, Germany, and Japan) involved in this project signed last May 30th. Terms of Reference (TOR) with the objective “to explore the possibilitiy of collaboration for research, development, test and evaluation of Railgun technologies” as ISL published in an official announcement.
Here is our video interview with ATLA and ISL representative regarding the cooperation agreement:
Regarding the signing of this agreement, ATLA responded to Naval News inquiries:
Naval News: Regarding the cooperation among Japan, France, and Germany this time, could you please provide information on its objectives, contents, and expected outcomes as much as possible?
ATLA: The cooperation based on the implementation guidelines signed this time aims to facilitate the smooth exchange of information and opinions on railgun technology among the participating institutions. This is to explore the potential for collaboration in the research, development, testing, and evaluation of railgun technology. By utilizing these implementation guidelines, we intend to steadily work towards the early practical application of railguns to accelerate the enhancement of our national defense capabilities.
Naval News: I understand that officials from the ATLA recently visited the ISL (Institute of Saint-Louis), the heart of railgun development projects in Europe, including France and Germany. Do you think that ATLA’s research on railguns, including the recent agreement, will have any impact on Europe’s THEMA project, or will it create synergistic effects between Japan and Europe?
ATLA: Since ATLA is not participating in Europe’s THEMA project, it is difficult to comment on its impact on the project. However, we hope that the cooperation under these implementation guidelines will yield results that contribute to the early practical application of railguns in both Japan and France/Germany.
Naval News: Besides Europe, it is understood that collaboration with the United States is also being pursued regarding railgun development. How might such international collaborations impact the current development of railguns?
ATLA: As the security environment surrounding our country becomes increasingly severe, we intend to steadily work towards the early practical application of railguns by actively promoting collaboration with allied and like-minded nations to secure technological superiority.
Japan is a widely recognized leader in this disruptive technology. Indeed, ATLA started its own railgun development program in 2016 with first demonstrator firing test taking place two years later. The last important milestone happened in October 2023 when ATLA conducted first official ship-board firing test of a railgun.
About Japanese railgun project
In the Japanese MoD, railgun development is conducted by the Ground Systems Research Center (GSRC), a division of the Acquisition, Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA). ATLA began full-scale development of the railgun in 2016. Under the name “Research on Electromagnetic Acceleration Systems,” the research was conducted from FY 2016 through FY 2022. The target in this research was a muzzle velocity of 2000 meters per second and a barrel life of 120 rounds. In other words, the goal was to achieve stable firing up to 120 rounds at a constant muzzle velocity.
In the case of a conventional firearm, damage to the barrel caused by the pressure generated by the explosion of gunpowder would be a problem, but this does not occur in the case of a railgun. On the other hand, damage caused by heat from the high current flowing through the rail and wear from contact between the armature and the rail is a problem. As the surface of the rail is eroded by this, it leads to performance degradation, such as a reduction in muzzle velocity. Therefore, copper was initially used as the material for the barrel rail, but was changed to a different blend of metals and other materials throughout the research. As a result, it was confirmed that no significant damage occurred to the barrel rail even after 120 rounds were fired.
Based on the results of the research to date, the project is now moving on to “Research on Future Railgun,” which will be conducted from FY2022 to FY2026. While previous research has focused on firing bullets from the railgun, the current research aims to advance this research into a “gun system” equipped with a series of mechanisms for actual operation. It includes:
・Continuous firing of projectile
・Fire control system
・Stability of projectile after launch
About European electromagnetic railgun
Under the leadership of the Franco-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis (ISL), the European Defense Agency (EDA) launched in May 2020 the PILUM project (Projectiles for Increased Long-range effects Using Electro-Magnetic railgun) in order to show the feasibility to construct an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) for artillery applications which can reach standoff distances up to 200 km. Electromagnetic railguns are launchers using very high electrical energy by using the Lorentz force to obtain significantly higher initial velocities than those of chemical guns.
The consortium has brought together nine partners from five European countries, each with its own industrial, technological and advanced scientific expertise:
- ISL, the French-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis, European leader in electromagnetic acceleration and coordinator of the project;
- the Von Karman Research Institute (Belgium), specialised in fluid dynamics and propulsion;
- two system integrators, Naval Group and Nexter Systems (France);
- two ammunition suppliers, Diehl Defence (Germany) and Nexter Munitions (France);
- Explomet (Poland), a small company specialised in the explosive cladding of metals;
- ICAR (Italy), manufacturer of high-density electric capacitors;
- Erdyn Consultants (France), an expert in the management of European collaborative projects
Concluded in September 2023, the seven industrial and labs partners recorded “considerable progress” for each of the three main pillars of the “electromagnetic railgun” effort: the gun itself, its projectiles and its energy storage and conversion system. Starting from scenarios set with end users, the PILUM team simultaneously carried out a series of numerical and analytical simulation exercises, laboratory tests, and open space experiments for each of the three subsystems. The final phases focused on system engineering issues and scenarios for integrating an EMRG on naval and land platforms.“The results exceed expectations,” the ISL said.
On the barrel side, the high temperatures and friction generated with each shot can be compensated for with a wear-resistant coating, thereby increasing the lifespan. PILUM also leads to a gun concept selected for in-depth study and to power and aiming concepts adapted to the needs of an EMRG.
PILUM also made it possible to progress on a preliminary concept of a hypervelocity projectile capable of reaching Mach 6, and more particularly on its resistance to acceleration forces and to the thermal loads generated. “Wind tunnel tests, simulations based on computational fluid mechanics, as well as free flight tests were carried out to evaluate performance at Mach 5,” the ISL added.
The tricky question of energy also required exploring several paths, such as capacitive and inductive power supplies. “A life cycle assessment carried out for the capacitive energy concept showed that, under specific operational conditions based on the scenarios, the energy density of the pulsed energy system was approximately 25% higher than the stated nominal values in the manufacturer’s technical specifications,” the ISL observed. The latter is working on another solution, that of an XRAM generator “which is based on the inductive storage of magnetic energy in a relatively small volume”. This results in a conceptual proposal for the integration of XRAM technology on a warship that provides more space to carry what would nevertheless remain a bulky weapon system. “Due to the significantly higher projectile speeds that EMRG can achieve compared to conventional artillery, strike distances of 200 km and more are possible,” summarized the EDA and ISL, confirming the feasibility of such a system within the European defense landscape.
As for the prospects for integration, the studies have resulted in several proofs of concept. “Solutions could be proposed depending on the space available in the platform,” underlined the EDA.These first steps will serve as a basis for progressing in a roadmap established until 2035.
Embodied by the “TecHnology for ElectroMAgnetic Artillery” (THEMA) project selected in June 2023, the current stage brings together all the actors of PILUM as well as some new heads. Led this time by Nexter, THEMA’s team conducts maturation studies which should lead in 2028 to the testing of a demonstrator on a shooting range.
Japan and EU are far to be the only to eyes this technology development. Many nations have electromagnetic railgun research projects at various stages of advancement. it’s the case of the United States (Office of Naval Research, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and BAE Systems but these efforts have reportedly stopped), India (DRDO), the UK (DRA), Russia as well as China, which was the only one that appears to have also conducted at sea tests of its prototype until Japan’s test.