PRC/PLAN Laser and Rail Gun Development Thread

[siegecrossbow]

PLAN laser exposed at 8:42 mark of the video.

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The background narration mentioned that new weapons are being tested on PLAN ship Bishen. I assume that this weapon is still under testing and could intercept enemy drones/possibly subsonic cruise missiles.

PS: the drone used appears to be a s-200 high subsonic target drone. It has a maximum speed of over 700KPH is used by PLAN and PLAGF to simulate cruise missiles/low flying enemy fighters. Looks like they intend to replace existing gun-based CIWS with this laser.

 

[AssassinsMace]

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Unless China has discovered some new material that won't disintegrate under the amount of power it needs to work as hyped, I imagine China is experiencing similar problems or they're going to settle for a lower powered weapon.

 

[SpicySichuan]

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Unless China has discovered some new material that won't disintegrate under the amount of power it needs to work as hyped, I imagine China is experiencing similar problems or they're going to settle for a lower powered weapon.

I have been wandering around for that, too. It seems like China's naval electromagnetic rail gun has been quite recently. Still, we don't know about the progress made by other rail and conventional superguns at the Baotou range.

 

[taxiya]

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Unless China has discovered some new material that won't disintegrate under the amount of power it needs to work as hyped, I imagine China is experiencing similar problems or they're going to settle for a lower powered weapon.

Indeed that is probably the most and only breakthrough that is needed for a meaningful rail-gun.

I found an study paper in 2020 "电磁轨道炮电弧烧蚀", and reading it now. It would be good if someone can find publication from US to gauge where they are in the field.

 

[latenlazy]

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Unless China has discovered some new material that won't disintegrate under the amount of power it needs to work as hyped, I imagine China is experiencing similar problems or they're going to settle for a lower powered weapon.

They may not need a better material. They could also just design the weapon to be field serviced so that swapping out the key components won’t interfere with reliable operations. It’s not like replacing barrels after wear is some new idea in military tech. There might also be different coating or other methods that can make ablation manageable.

 

[siegecrossbow]

I have been wandering around for that, too. It seems like China's naval electromagnetic rail gun has been quite recently. Still, we don't know about the progress made by other rail and conventional superguns at the Baotou range.

One thing that bugs me is that we still haven’t seen the rail gun actually firing or even credible rumor/leaks of it happening. We even got a video of the PLAN laser test firing, albeit inadvertently.

 

[taxiya]

continue from #594
The study paper "电磁轨道炮抗烧蚀枢轨结构设计" Design of Anti-Ablation Armature Structure for Electromagnetic Rail Gun

Abstract: In order to optimize the armature-orbital ablation of electromagnetic orbital guns, this paper firstly analyzed the causes of ablation.Then, this paper applied magnetic field constrained low temperature plasma to increase the electrical conductivity of the armature-orbit contact surface, and the current diffusion of the current at the contact surface.Meanwhile, the skin effect and ablation effect is reduced.Combined with theoretical analysis, the design of the new pivotal structure was carried out.The analysis shows that the electromagnetic orbital armature designed based on the magnetic confinement low-temperature plasma technology can effectively optimize the abrasion problem of the armature-orbit structure.


So the approach is to use low temperature plasma to act as:

1. Conductor instead of physical contact between the rail and projectile, reducing friction and wear.
2. Thermal insulation.
3. Eliminating arch (heat).
4. Reducing surfacing effect of electrical current, therefor reduce density of current in the rail, reducing heat.

This is the same thing that PLA did to the barreled gun by introducing low temperature plasma to increase barrel life. In the barreled gun application they used the solution (a) without doing anything to the barrel. I guess in the rail-gun they uses solution (b).

 

[escobar]

PLAN laser exposed at 8:42 mark of the video.

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The background narration mentioned that new weapons are being tested on PLAN ship Bishen. I assume that this weapon is still under testing and could intercept enemy drones/possibly subsonic cruise missiles.

PS: the drone used appears to be a s-200 high subsonic target drone. It has a maximum speed of over 700KPH is used by PLAN and PLAGF to simulate cruise missiles/low flying enemy fighters. Looks like they intend to replace existing gun-based CIWS with this laser.

Seem it is not laser, just normal CIWS training

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434826552936517632

 

[siegecrossbow]

Seem it is not laser, just normal CIWS training

https://twitter.com/i/web/status/1434826552936517632

That's disappointing. But thanks for clarifying. My mistake.

 

[sferrin]

With the remaining 2 members of the 1st batch of 8 Type 055 destroyers slated for entering service by the end of this year (2022), we all know that China has confirmed order for another batch of 8 Type 055 destroyers.

Any information on how the 2nd batch of Type 055s would be like?

Will the 2nd batch be the same as the 1st batch (with/without slight modifications/upgrades), or will they be equiped with newer weapon systems (such as electromagnetic railguns and directed energy weapons)?

Speaking of which, there has been no updates/news regarding China's railgun project after the reveal of the test platform several years ago it seems...

What's wierd is the USN has also appeared to drop both General Atomics' and BAE's railguns.