Japan tried successfully a maritime medium-caliber electromagnetic weapon from an offshore platform as it continues to advance its defenses against growing regional threats.
For the test, the Japanese Maritime Self-Defense Force (JMSDF) collaborated with the Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (ATLA), a division of the Japanese Ministry of Defense. 
On October 17, ATLA announced the successful test, claiming it was the first time any nation had achieved such a feat. Japan hopes to use the railgun on land and at sea.
Along with the announcement published on Platform X (formerly Twitter), ATLA attached a surprising video with the gun in action, showing projectiles being fired from various angles. The Japanese Ministry of Defense (MoD) has announced that it has decided to develop an electromagnetic weapon system to intercept enemy hypersonic missiles from early 2022.
#ATLA has accomplished ship-board firing test of railgun first time in the world with the cooperation of the JMSDF. To protect vessels against air-threats and surface-threats by high-speed bullets, ATLA strongly promotes early deployment of railgun technology. pic.twitter.com/MG5NqqENcG
— Acquisition Technology & Logistics Agency (@atla_kouhou_en) October 17, 2023
The Railgun is an electromagnetic weapon that can fire projectiles with speed about Mach 7, or seven times the speed of sound, at targets such as ships, missiles and aircraft. It has long been predicted and stated by some Japanese officials that the country wants to combine this particular weapon system with long-range missiles to increase its ability to intercept aerial targets.
The development and testing of these weapons comes as Tokyo considers how to adequately counter threats from hypersonic weapons developed by regional rivals such as China, North Korea and Russia.
Watch the video
