The EU wants to create an electromagnetic railgun capable of accelerating an artillery shell to 7,400 km/h

Last week, the European Defence Agency held the final meeting of the PILUM project. The aim of the programme is to develop an electromagnetic railgun.

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The European Defence Agency wants to develop a new artillery system based on an electromagnetic railgun with the potential to accelerate projectiles to very high velocities. The project has received financial support from the European Commission under the Preparatory Action for Defence Research (PADR).

The session focused on three key aspects that the PILUM project is investigating. These are electromagnetic railgun, hypersonic projectile, electrical energy storage and conversion.

Seven partners from four European countries are involved in PILUM. They were able to make progress in the core areas of electromagnetic artillery. The agency's press release states that this will lay the foundation for advanced electromagnetic weapons in the future.

They have also developed a concept for artillery shells that will have a speed of Mach 6 (7408.8 km/h). The effectiveness of the concept has been evaluated at Mach 5 (6174 km/h) in wind tunnel and computer modelling.

The programme can now move on to the next stage, called THEMA (Technology for Electromagnetic Artillery). The aim is to test the electromagnetic railgun at the test site no later than 2028.

Source: EDA