Images of the 072III-class Chinese amphibious assault ship Haiyang Shan, presumably equipped with a working prototype of an electromagnetic cannon, have circulated on social media, The Drive reports. The photographs show a ship at a shipyard in Wuhan (the most populous city in central China), the bow of which is equipped with a massive weapons turret with a large barrel. Other 072III class ships are equipped with more modest weapons (37mm cannon).
Several containers are also visible in the pictures, which probably contain electrical equipment to power the railgun. The publication notes that previously no railguns were seen on Chinese ships, and "the functioning rail mechanism installed on the ship signifies a major achievement for China and is becoming a source of serious concern at the Pentagon."
The railgun is capable of accelerating projectiles weighing about 10 kilograms to a speed of several thousand kilometers per hour with a flight range of several hundred kilometers. This is enough to sink a large ship, intercept an enemy plane or missile. The effect is comparable to a small meteorite hitting the ground.
Structurally, the gun is an electromagnetic mass accelerator, consisting of three main elements: the railgun itself (a pair of conductive rails), a projectile and a direct current source. They are working on railguns in the USA, China, Russia and India, but only in the first and, probably, in the second country, full-size working prototypes have been created.