Japan conducted its first test-firing of a ship-mounted railgun at a sea-based target. The test positions Tokyo closer to becoming the first country to field this coveted technology.
Japan’s Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA) announced that the tests were conducted from June to early July using the prototype railgun mounted on the testbed JS Asuka ship, a 6,200-ton-displacement dedicated testbed with a warship-like design.
“ATLA conducted the Shipboard Railgun Shooting Test from June to early July this year with the support of the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force,” it said in an official statement. “It’s the first time that a ship-mounted railgun was successfully fired at a real ship.”
The agency released new photos of the testing, showing the railgun mid-firing, and a close-up of the turret and fire control radar.
The announcement comes months after the Japan Self-Defense Forces (JSDF) released pictures of Asuka (ASE-6102) with a railgun mounted on its turret in April 2025 and subsequently showcased its railgun at the DSEI Japan exhibition in May 2025, as previously reported by the EurAsian Times.
🇯🇵 Japan has successfully completed tests of its railgun aboard the ship Asuka, confirming the ability to accurately hit targets at significant distances.
During the firing trials from June to early July, projectiles reached speeds exceeding 2,500 m/s — far higher than… pic.twitter.com/7AHnNZ1MDW
— Visioner (@visionergeo) September 11, 2025
The development of this complex, almost fantasy-like technology started in Japan almost a decade ago. ATLA conducted the world’s first railgun firing from aboard the JS Asuka in 2023.
The firing was conducted from offshore, with rounds hitting the ocean. This test focused on stability, electromagnetic propulsion & power integration and validated rapid-fire and flight stability, as per reports.
The testing in June-July 2025, however, has proved to be a breakthrough. The prototype used in the latest test was a medium-caliber, turret-mounted electromagnetic railgun weighing approximately 8–9 tons. Though specific details of the test have not been disclosed, the railgun prototype reportedly fired at a velocity of around Mach 6.5 in previous tests, while using five megajoules (MJ), or 5 million joules (J), of charge energy.
Japan aims to scale up the energy output to 20 MJ per shot, as stated in ATLA’s development roadmap. This increase would boost muzzle velocity and range, potentially exceeding Mach 7 and 150 kilometres, enable heavier projectiles or greater kinetic impact for anti-ship and anti-missile roles, and support sustained rapid-fire operations.
Currently, the research is concentrated on providing the gun system with a series of mechanisms for real-world operations, and work is being done to improve the projectile’s flight stability, create a specialized fire control system, and enable continuous firing, according to a Naval News report.
The JMSDF and the ATLA want to create an operational weapon that can be installed on Japanese vessels. While Japan has not officially named the vessels that will likely get the railgun, ATLA had earlier displayed drawings of possible railgun installations on the current Maya class destroyers (also called the 27DDG class) and the prospective 13DDX destroyer.
Notably, Tokyo is considering two major applications for the railgun, including interception of hypersonic missiles and a highly penetrative anti-ship capability with quick rates of fire.
The use of a railgun will allow Japan to effectively address regional threats, including from China’s growing inventory of hypersonic missiles (as seen in its latest Victory Day Parade) and North Korea’s ballistic missile program, which is also growing in scale.
A railgun-mounted warship would enhance JSDMF’s cost-effective saturation defense by complementing Aegis BMD (ballistic missile defense) and the futuristic interceptors. The Japanese railgun could also, perhaps, be modified for use from trucks or ground-based systems, as well as for coastal defense.
For now, Japan may have officially beaten research powerhouses like the United States and China in railgun technology.
Railguns—Straight From Sci-fi
Railguns in sci-fi are often depicted as high-tech, devastating weapons that fire projectiles at hypersonic speeds using electromagnetic forces, obliterating targets with sheer kinetic energy. They are sleek, powerful, and often a centerpiece of military might in those universes. In the real world, they are a little less glamorous but just as fascinating.
Railguns are unique because they use electricity and magnetism, not gunpowder, to launch projectiles at hypersonic velocity.
A railgun consists of two parallel conductive rails connected to a power source, and in between the rails is an armature or conductive projectile. When a massive electric current is passed through the rails, it creates a magnetic field–creating a force (called Lorentz Force) that slingshots the projectile forward at hypersonic speeds (Mach 5 or more).
Put another way, a railgun propels a metal ball toward its target at hypersonic speed using an electromagnetic field rather than gunpowder and explosives. The projectile accumulates enough kinetic energy due to its extraordinarily high speed to kill any possible target. In fact, any metal ball without any explosives could be used as the projectile.
While the theory of railgun technology is fascinating, challenges persist, which is why no country has been able to develop and induct a railgun despite a whole century of research.
Railguns typically need immense electrical energy, which is typically supplied by capacitors or pulsed power systems, as standard batteries can’t deliver the instantaneous power needed. This massive energy demand has been a hurdle because a small railgun could consume electrical power equivalent to 10,000 homes. Needless to say, generating and storing that amount of electricity has been a challenge.
Separately, this system needs cooling, which further limits its use.
Barrel wear from extreme heat and friction has been another recurring problem that scientists and engineers have encountered over the years. The high electrical current and magnetic stress also frequently damaged the parallel conductors. The scientists needed to develop rails that could handle that much force consistently.
Railgun Race Has China In The Running
Railguns were conceived a century ago, in the 1920s, and several countries have tried building one over the years, albeit unsuccessfully.
The United States, the world’s most advanced defense-industrial power, abandoned its efforts to manufacture railguns in 2021, after over 15 years of research and more than $500 million in investment. The project sought to create a naval gun that could deliver devastating kinetic energy strikes over ranges exceeding 100 miles. However, it succumbed to insurmountable technical hurdles.
Moreover, tight budgets made it difficult to justify continued funding for a high-risk technology amid competing priorities like hypersonic missiles. Interestingly, though, the US has been unable to field an operational hypersonic missile as well.
Meanwhile, China has maintained consistent funding and breakthroughs in its railgun program that focuses on naval and ground-based applications to counter hypersonic threats, enhance anti-ship capabilities, and support missile defense.
China mounted a railgun on the Type 072III-class landing ship Haiyangshan in 2018, making it the world’s first at-sea prototype. It achieved initial velocities up to Mach 7 and ranges of 100-200 kilometers in testing, though details remained classified. In 2023, it reportedly tested a 124-kilogram projectile at 700 kilometers/hour initial velocity. This was followed by another milestone wherein it conducted continuous firing, with an AI-monitored system using 100,000 sensors to fire 120 rounds at Mach 6–7 without barrel damage.
By February 2024, Chinese naval researchers have reportedly overcome technical problems with hypersonic speed ‘smart kinetic energy shells’ fired from an electromagnetic rail gun.
A team led by Feng Junhong with the National Key Laboratory of Electromagnetic Energy at the Naval University of Engineering conducted research that resulted in the round receiving stable signals from the BeiDou satellite navigation system. It consistently adjusted its flight path, maintaining an error of less than 15 meters “until it hits its target.”
However, in the absence of practical demonstration, many military analysts took the Chinese claims with a grain of salt.
There is no doubt that Beijing’s railgun effort is believed to be among the most advanced globally and bigger in scope as compared to that of Japan’s. But, at this point, Tokyo seems to be much closer to overcoming challenges, conducting advanced testing, and maybe even inducting the railgun technology.
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