中国似乎在测试一门电磁炮，而美国海军停止了其耗资5亿美元的项目 [美国媒体]

It looks like China is about to test afuturistic railgun as the US Navy puts the brakes on its $500 million program

中国似乎在测试一门使用了未来科技的大炮，而美国海军停止了其耗资5亿美元的项目

Ben Brimelow



usnavyresearch/YouTube

Photos have been circulating on socialmedia that show a Chinese ship with what could be a prototype railgun on itsbow.

显示一艘可能在舰首安装了电磁炮原型的中国军舰图片正在媒体上疯传。

The photos, taken at the WuchangShipyard in China's Hubei Province, show a Type 072III-class landing shipidentified as the Haiyang Shan with a much larger gun on its mountthan its usual twin 37mm cannon.

这些图片是在中国湖北省的武昌造船厂拍摄的。图片显示一艘072III级登陆舰“海洋山号”的舰首安装了一门比其通常配备的双37毫米加农炮要大得多的大炮。

The size and shape of the weapon areroughly the same as the US Navy's own prototype railgun, and the shipping containers on the deck could be used ascontrol rooms or to house the power supply. Moreover, the location of thephotographs may hint as to the gun's true nature — the Wuchang Shipyardhas been the sight of previous tests for the Chinese Navy.

这门大炮的尺寸和形状很像美国海军自主研制的轨道炮原型，其后甲板上的集装箱可能是控制室或者电源。另外，这些图片拍摄的位置可能暗示了这门大炮的实际本质——中国海军之前的一些测试是在武昌造船厂进行的。

It also comes at a time when the US hasbeen scalingback their efforts on developing railguns and other electromagnetictechnologies. The Navy has spent more than $500 million on the project, which willlikely never see combat.

与此同时，美国减少了他们在轨道炮和其他电磁科技研制方面的投入。美国海军在这些项目上已经花费了5亿美元，然而仍然看不到将其投入实战的可能。

Officials at the Department of Defense"don't want to fund the railgun because they're simply not buyingit," a senior legislative official with direct knowledge of the US'railgun project recently told Task & Purpose.

国防部的官员们“不想再资助轨道炮项目，因为他们根本不买账，”一位对美国轨道炮项目有直接了解的高级立法官员最近对Task & Purpose说。

"Promising technologies fall into the'valley of death' all the time," another legislative source told Task& Purpose. "Testing is great, but unless you want to put money intotransitioning that tech into an actual weapons system then what the hell areyou doing? We're afraid to take a risk and try to get things moving."

“有希望的科技总是会掉进’死亡谷’，”另一位立法官员告诉Task & Purpose。“测试结果都很棒，但是如果你不投入更多的钱这项科技就不能转化成实际的武器系统，那我们他-妈-的在干什么呢？我们害怕冒险去尝试推动事情进步。”

Railguns are cannons that can shoot inertprojectiles without gunpowder. They achieve this by using magnetic energy sentthrough rails on the projectiles as they make their way down the barrel,allowing the projectile to reach hypersonic speeds.

轨道炮是一种不需要火药将实心弹丸发射出去的大炮。它的工作原理是让磁能通过一直延伸到炮口的轨道，产生能量将弹丸发射出去，并达到高超音速。



The technology would allow for fastertarget acquisition, increased range, and could free up space for moreprojectiles because propelling charges would not be needed — something that mayalso make the railgun cheaper than its current counterparts.

这项技术能够更快地打击目标，增加射程，并且可以容纳更多的弹丸——因为不需要发射药了——这也可以让轨道炮比目前其他火炮的成本更低。

The photos suggest that the set up is stillin a testing phase. A Type 072III-class landing ship would be a goodcandidate; the ship can hold 500 tons of cargo, and has enough open spaceto fit large components.

图片显示中国的轨道炮还处在测试阶段。一搜072III型登陆舰是个很好的选择；该类型的军舰可以装载500吨的货物，并且有足够的开放空间容纳大尺寸组件。



China's military has a well known historyof being interested in electromagnetic technologies. The country has been researching howto build and deploy a Electromagnetic Aircraft Launch System (EMALS) forits aircraft carriers.

中国军队对电磁科技的兴趣是尽人皆知的。这个国家已经开始研制安装在航母上的电磁推进系统（EMALS）。

EMALS would require less maintenance thatcurrent systems, which rely on compressed steam to launch aircraft, and couldallow Chinese aircraft carriers to carry and launch larger aircraft, increasingthe range and strike power of a Chinese carrier force.

EMALS不像目前流行的蒸汽弹射系统那样需要那么多的维护，并且可以让中国航母装载和弹射更大的飞机，增加中国航母的攻击半径和攻击力量。

Railguns are something that China has been pursuing fordecades. While the research has been going on since the 1980's, China hasrecently claimed to have made massive progress on the program, with RearAdmiral Ma Weiming boasting ofChina's breakthroughs last October.

轨道炮是中国在几十年来一直追寻的目标。在1980年代针对此技术的研究便已开始，到最近，中国已经开始宣布在该项目上取得的重大进展，即马伟明少将在去年十月夸耀的突破。

Though there has been no officialconfirmation that the pictures show a railgun, China would be the first nationto successfully install a railgun prototype onto a sea-worthy vessel if thereports are true.

尽管这些关于轨道炮的图片还没有得到官方认可，如果这些报道属实，中国可能会成为世界上第一个成功在适航舰艇上安装轨道炮原型的国家。