this post was submitted on 07 Apr 2026
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[–] FourteenEyes@hexbear.net 8 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

Fair points, but give it time. I half expect the Chinese to build a working naval railgun just to dab on us.

[–] KobaCumTribute@hexbear.net 4 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

I'd expect infantry scale railguns instead tbh. A naval railgun has to somehow be better and more logistically efficient than a missile rack and its ammunition and the current trend is for those to get cheaper and more effective. There'd need to be some kind of breakthrough in anti-missile systems that makes "just send more cheap missiles at a target to overwhelm the defenses/exhaust their interceptors" no longer viable, like a laser CIWS that actually works in practice, in order for "how do we make big artillery pieces work better?" to make a comeback.

At the small scale, it's possible the issues of railguns ruining their barrels could be solved, but it still needs a good answer to "why are you not just using conventional propellant?" and now "why are you not just using an anti-infantry/anti-vehicle drone system instead?" Since railguns are more efficient than coilguns, it's feasible it could end up working as an integrally silenced weapon (and stealth aside, reducing volume is good especially indoors because it reduces hearing damage for everyone nearby) although coilguns would probably win out on reliability.

[–] Lurkmore@hexbear.net 2 points 8 hours ago

They do have this

China has also been developing much larger electromagnetic weapons. In 2023, the PLA Naval University of Engineering reportedly tested the world’s most powerful coil gun that could fire a 124kg (273lbs) projectile at speeds of 700 km/h (435mph).

But like you said that is a different tech than a rail gun.