Japan Pushes for Deployment of Missile-Intercepting Railgun... Also to Counter North Korea, China, and Russia

Purpose of Hypersonic Missile Interception
Plan to Deploy in Combat by 2030

The railgun under test development by the Japan Defense Equipment Agency. [Image source= Japan Defense Equipment Agency website]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hyunwoo Lee] Japanese local media reported that the Japanese government is developing a "railgun" weapon to intercept hypersonic missiles reportedly possessed by China and Russia, with plans to deploy it in actual combat by 2030. The railgun is known as a new weapon that has been researched and developed in the US and Russia but has not yet been deployed in actual combat.

According to the Nihon Keizai (Nikkei) newspaper on the 5th, Japan's Ministry of Defense is reportedly reviewing a missile defense plan aiming to deploy railguns in actual combat by 2030 as part of a newly established national security strategy to be finalized by the end of this year. A railgun refers to a weapon that places a projectile on electrically charged rails and launches it using electromagnetic force.

The railgun is known as a new weapon capable of intercepting hypersonic missiles because it can fly toward targets at a speed of 2 km per second, which is more than six times the speed of sound. Nikkei reported that although research and development have been pursued in the US and Russia, there are no known cases of actual deployment yet.

The Japanese Ministry of Defense has shown interest in independently developing railguns since 2015 and expects to approach practical application levels in the future. It is known that the Ministry included 6.5 billion yen in the 2022 budget for the production cost of a railgun prototype nearing practical application. However, for complete practical use, materials that conduct electricity easily and have high durability are required, so securing high-power control technology and durability remains a challenge.

The reason Japan is moving toward actual deployment of railguns is analyzed to be due to the increased necessity for airspace defense as China, North Korea, and Russia have begun full-scale development of hypersonic missiles with irregular trajectories. Nikkei stated, "The Ministry of Defense's judgment is that the current system, which requires intercepting hypersonic missiles with missiles, has limitations," and added, "The Ministry plans to establish a system by 2030 that operates railguns and long-range missiles alongside existing interceptor missiles."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.