Japan shows off futuristic 'railgun' at defence expo

Makuhari, Japan: As Japan s biggest defence exhibition kicked off this week, visitors got a close up look at a model of its futuristic railgun that...

Makuhari, Japan: As Japan's biggest defence exhibition kicked off this week, visitors got a close-up look at a model of its futuristic "railgun" that its makers hope will be able to shoot down hypersonic missiles.

Instead of gunpowder, railgun technology uses electromagnetic energy to fire a projectile along a set of rails at ultra-high velocity.

The round will then in theory destroy the target, which could be an enemy ship, drone or incoming ballistic missile, solely with its vast kinetic energy.

Other countries, including the United States, China, France and Germany, are also developing the technology, but Japan's navy last year claimed a world first by test-firing a railgun on a ship.

"A railgun is a gun of the future that fires bullets with electrical energy, unlike conventional artillery," an official from the Acquisition, Technology and Logistics Agency (ATLA) within Japan's Ministry of Defence told AFP.