And the website js7tv.cn posted a video of the shooting.
Alexander Sychev
What is beyond doubt is that Chinese scientists seem to have made significant breakthroughs in electromagnetic weapon technology. Until recently, the most advanced rifle was considered to be developed by the American company Arcflash Labs, for which a pre-order was announced last August for everyone.
The GR-1 ANVIL rifle, weighing 9 kg and a barrel length of about a meter, develops a muzzle energy of up to 85 J. This is comparable to a very good hunting-grade air rifle. Ferromagnetic bullet in GR-1 ANVIL with a diameter of 10 mm is accelerated by 8 electromagnets. According to American designers, 100 bullets can be fired per minute.
So, the Chinese engineers have achieved almost 150 J of muzzle energy, which is almost twice as much as that of the American GR-1. This is already comparable to a small-bore rifle. They achieved such power with a very modest size of the pistol - the barrel length is 12 centimeters, and the bullet itself, the dimensions of which have not yet been announced, are accelerated by only three induction coils.
How did the Chinese manage to make such a breakthrough? Perhaps the secret lies in the fact that they used artificial intelligence. This is the second feature of the Chinese pistol, which the newspaper proudly reported is entirely artificially engineered.
To understand the significance of the achievement, it is necessary to talk a little about the idea of using electromagnets to move a certain metal object in a certain direction. It was based on the studies of electromagnetism carried out by the German scientist Johann Karl Friedrich Gauss in the first half of the 19th century.
At the height of the First World War, Russian and French designers decided to implement Gauss's theory in hardware. The French created an experimental sample that was able to accelerate a 50-gram projectile to a speed of 200 m / s. But the energy costs turned out to be huge, and the “exhaust” was negligible. The French military grew cold to new weapons. The Russians turned out to be either smarter, or, as often happens to us, indifferent to their own inventions, but the Russian magnetic-fugue gun remained in the blueprints.
Cooling interest is understandable. At that time, the technical thought was facing an insurmountable wall - the extremely low efficiency of Gaussian systems (up to 2%) and the lack of acceptable sizes of energy sources.
But the theoretical advantages of electromagnetic weapons do not allow them to be forgotten to this day.
Theoretically, the power of Gauss systems, in the Chinese case - a pistol, can be brought to the level of similar firearms and even surpass it and achieve almost any muzzle velocity of a projectile. In the case of firearms, there is a limit of 2 thousand meters per second.
On an electromagnetic weapon, you can put an energy regulator and turn a combat weapon into a traumatic one with one movement of your finger. This weapon is practically silent and, as shown by Chinese videos, has no recoil. More importantly, electromagnetic weapon ammunition is very cheap. Their cost is practically equal to the figures on the price tags for rolled steel on the wholesale market. Finally, the absence of rumble and smoke allows for high secrecy of military operations - working artillery is more difficult to spot, and snipers become almost invisible
Plus, Gaussian technology is very simple. The schemes were published in many popular technical journals around the world, including, it seems, in the Soviet "Technology of Youth". This was done because it was impossible to create a real lethal weapon with the technologies available at that time. In fact, it was about a toy, a fun. Not for children, of course.
The classic "Gauss Cannon" consists of a small set of main blocks - a power source, a converter, a number of capacitors and electromagnetic coils, lined up with the barrel inside. The coils, turning on in succession for a short period of time, create a magnetic field that pulls a certain iron projectile, accelerating it. The faster the capacitors are charged, the higher the rate of fire of the weapon. The more powerful the electromagnets, the greater the barrel speed. It's simple.
However, the technical problems of this weapon, in addition to its low efficiency, turned out to be a lot, which postponed its use for military purposes for more than a century. So, the presence of several electromagnetic coils required very precise synchronization. The bullet should fly from one coil to another and preferably away from the shooter. The slightest out of sync can lead to a cross-fire. Modern electronics have solved this problem, however, and chips can break or fail.
For a long time, the power supply remained an insurmountable problem. It must be powerful and transportable. A mobile power plant reduces the maneuverability of even artillery, and is completely unsuitable for small arms. Even a backpack with batteries on his back is a burden for an infantryman.
The indicator of 150 J indicates that the Chinese specialists managed to radically increase the efficiency of their weapons and find a source of electricity of an acceptable size. It remains unknown how long the energy reserve in the batteries will last. The video shows single shots.
There are still a lot of questions to the Chinese electromagnetic pistol, and therefore military experts do not express their opinion - there is too little data and there are no samples of weapons at hand. But experts of the Forbes magazine, having studied the available materials, came to the conclusion that "the West should not yet worry about the appearance of Chinese magnetic weapons on the battlefield".
The fact is that during the demonstration, fire was fired at four folded plywood sheets from a distance of several meters. Their bullets, indeed, pierced them, which means that a person can be killed without armor protection. By comparison, James Bond's favorite, Walter PP, punches several pine planks from a much greater distance.
“Based on the information received and the analysis of the video, we can say that Chinese electromagnetic weapons are not yet capable of replacing firearms,” concludes Forbes magazine. “It is still the weapon of science fiction films like The Eraser, in which Schwarzenegger's hero prefers it. However, we, of course, should closely follow the Chinese experiments to increase the share of electrical energy transmitted to accelerate the projectile".