China has allegedly tested the 'most powerful' coil gun

The projectile in a coil gun remains centered in the EM coil during launch, preventing contact with the barrel wall and allowing for rapid, repeated firing without wear on components. For several reasons, coil guns have the potential to revolutionize warfare by enabling faster, more accurate, and devastating attacks on enemy targets. Additionally, they could be used to launch missiles or send satellites into space.

The technology is nothing new, with the United States making early breakthroughs with a 120mm-caliber electromagnetic coil mortar test device at the Sandia National Laboratories in the United States, which can fire a projectile weighing 40 lbs (18 kg). The Chinese team, led by Professor Guan Xiaocun from the Naval University of Engineering, highlights the advantages of the coil gun, such as higher launch speeds, lower launch costs, and shorter preparation time, compared to traditional artillery.

“It has the potential for revolutionary breakthroughs in speed, range, power, accuracy, safety, flexibility, and reliability,” Guan and his colleagues wrote in a paper published in the peer-reviewed journal Transactions of China Electrotechnical Societythis month. “It is widely applicable in areas such as weapon systems, near-earth satellites, and high-speed missile launches,” they added.

The Chinese military has also heavily invested in a much larger 30-stage coil gun, which is still in the testing phase, reports SCMP. Ma Weiming, the lead scientist of the Chinese military's electromagnetic launch program, stated in a paper published in June that the Naval University of Engineering has overcome several challenges in building the large coil gun.

Ma said the challenges involved designing and manufacturing large-caliber coils with high magnetic density and compact pulsed power technology. The more powerful coil gun can, it is claimed, launch a projectile at 2,237 mph (3,600 kph), increasing the weapon's kill range to over 62 miles (100 km).

Not all gravy

With regards to the smaller coil gun, by developing a special EM-shielded projectile, the team was also able to record some important data about the launch. Using this, they found that the projectile didn't behave as expected from computer simulations. For example, it was found that the stronger electromagnetic force at the tail of the projectile caused it to tilt and collide with the inner wall of the drive coil. This collision also made the acceleration data of the weapon fluctuate.

The test projectile started to wobble in later stages due to the wrong timing of the pulse current. Thanks to vital information like this, scientists can enhance future coil gun performance by adjusting trigger time for pulse current and reducing wobbling, the team explained.