Video: Japan joins European effort for railgun research project

Article with the contribution of Yoshihiro Imada, Nathan Gain and Xavier Vavasseur.

All efforts recently came to life with a new milestone when three defense ministries involved in this project (France, Germany and Japan) signed on May 30. Description of Services (TOR) with the aim “To explore collaborative opportunities for research, development, testing and evaluation of railgun technologies.” as ISL released in an official announcement.

Here is our video interview with ATLA and ISL representatives about the cooperation agreement:

Regarding the signing of this agreement, ATLA responded Naval News Inquiries:

Naval News: With regard to the cooperation between Japan, France and Germany this time, could you please provide as much information as possible about its objectives, content and expected results?

ATLA: The collaboration based on the implementation guidelines signed this time aims to enable the smooth exchange of information and opinions on railgun technology between the institutions involved. The aim is to examine the potential for collaboration in the research, development, testing and evaluation of railgun technology. By leveraging these implementation guidelines, we aim to continually work toward the early practical application of railguns to accelerate the improvement of our national defense capabilities.

Naval News: I understand that ATLA officials recently visited the ISL (Institute of Saint-Louis), the centerpiece of railgun development projects in Europe, including France and Germany. Do you think ATLA’s research on railguns, including the recent agreement, will have any impact on the European THEMA project, or will it create synergies between Japan and Europe?

ATLA: Since ATLA does not participate in the European THEMA project, it is difficult to assess its impact on the project. However, we hope that cooperation within these implementation guidelines will produce results that contribute to the early practical application of railguns in both Japan and France/Germany.

Naval News: It is assumed that, in addition to Europe, cooperation with the United States is also sought in the development of railguns. How could such international collaborations impact the current development of railguns?

ATLA: As the security environment around our country becomes increasingly harsh, we intend to continually work toward the early practical use of railguns by actively promoting cooperation with allied and like-minded nations to ensure technological superiority.

Japan is a widely recognized leader in this groundbreaking technology. In fact, ATLA launched its own railgun development program in 2016, with the first demonstrator firing test taking place two years later. The last important milestone occurred in October 2023, when ATLA conducted the first official onboard railgun firing test.

About the Japanese Railgun Project

In the Japanese Ministry of Defense, railgun development is carried out 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 carried out from the 2016 financial year to the 2022 financial year. The goal of 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 of up to 120 rounds at a constant muzzle velocity.

In a traditional firearm, damage to the barrel from the pressure created by the explosion of the gunpowder would be a problem, but this does not occur with a railgun. On the other hand, heat damage due to the high current flowing through the rail and wear due to armature-rail contact are a problem. Since this erodes the surface of the rail, this leads to a reduction in performance, such as a reduction in muzzle velocity. Therefore, copper was initially used as the material for the running rail, but as research progressed, a different mix of metals and other materials was used. This confirmed that there was no significant damage to the barrel rail even after 120 rounds were fired.

Based on the results of the previous research, the project now moves to “Research on Future Rail Guns”, which will be carried out from fiscal year 2022 to fiscal year 2026. While previous research focused on firing bullets from the railgun, current research aims to advance this research into a “weapon system” equipped with a range of mechanisms for actual operation. It includes:

・Continuous projectile firing

・Fire control system

・Stability of the projectile after firing

About European electromagnetic railgun

Under the leadership of the Franco-German Research Institute Saint-Louis (ISL), the European Defense Agency (EDA) launched in May 2020 the PILUM project (PBullets for Iincreased LLong-distance effects Using electroMMagnetic railgun) to demonstrate the feasibility of building an electromagnetic railgun (EMRG) for artillery applications that can reach distances of up to 200 km. Electromagnetic railguns are launchers that consume very high levels of electrical energy by using the Lorentz force to achieve significantly higher initial velocities than chemical weapons.

The consortium brought together nine partners from five European countries, each with their own industrial, technological and advanced scientific expertise:

• ISL, the Franco-German Research Institute of Saint-Louis, European leader in electromagnetic acceleration and coordinator of the project;
• the Von Karman Research Institute (Belgium), specializing in fluid dynamics and propulsion;
• two systems integrators, Naval Group and Nexter Systems (France);
• two ammunition suppliers, Diehl Defense (Germany) and Nexter Munitions (France);
• Explomet (Poland), a small company specializing in explosive metal casing;
• ICAR (Italy), manufacturer of high-density electrical capacitors;
• Erdyn Consultants (France), expert in the management of European cooperation projects

Completed in September 2023, the seven industrial and laboratory partners noted: “significant progress” for each of the three main pillars of the “electromagnetic railgun” effort: the weapon itself, its projectiles, and its energy storage and conversion system. Starting from scenarios created with end users, the PILUM team simultaneously conducted a series of numerical and analytical simulation exercises, laboratory tests and free-space experiments for each of the three subsystems. The final phases focused on systems engineering issues and scenarios for integrating an EMRG on naval and land platforms.”The results exceed expectations“said the ISL.

On the barrel side, the high temperatures and friction that occur with every shot can be compensated for by a wear-resistant coating, thus increasing the service life. PILUM also results in a weapons concept selected for in-depth study, as well as energy and targeting concepts adapted to the needs of an EMRG.

PILUM also made it possible to continue working on a preliminary concept of a hypervelocity projectile at Mach 6 and in particular on its resistance to acceleration forces and the thermal loads generated. “To evaluate performance at Mach 5, wind tunnel tests, computational fluid dynamics simulations, and free flight tests were conducted.” the ISL added.

The tricky question of energy also required the exploration of multiple avenues, such as capacitive and inductive power supplies. “A life cycle assessment carried out for the capacitive energy concept showed that the energy density of the pulsed energy system under specific operating conditions based on the scenarios was approximately 25% higher than the nominal values ​​specified in the manufacturer’s technical specifications“, stated the ISL. The latter is working on a different 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, which offers more space for transporting a nevertheless 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“, EDA and ISL summarized, confirming the feasibility of such a system within the European defense landscape.

Regarding the integration prospects, the studies have led to several proofs of concept. “Depending on the space available on the platform, solutions could be suggested“, emphasized the EDA. These first steps will serve as the basis for the further development of a roadmap set up to 2035.

Embodied by the “TecHnology for ElectroMAgnetic Artillery” (THEMA) project selected in June 2023, the current stage brings together all the actors from PILUM as well as some new minds. This time under the leadership of Nexter, the THEMA team is conducting maturity studies that will lead to testing a demonstrator on a shooting range in 2028.

Japan and the EU are by far the only ones observing this technological development. There are research projects on electromagnetic railguns in many countries that are in various stages of development. This is the case of the United States (Office of Naval Research, Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division and BAE Systems, but these efforts have reportedly been discontinued), India (DRDO), Great Britain (DRA), Russia as well as China is just one of them apparently did too conducted tests of its prototype at sea until Japan’s test.