Iran Hails Railgun Breakthrough

For lack of credible photographic evidence…

Too bad anyone other than the IRGC is going to receive news like this with a healthy does of skepticism. Still, Iran should be lauded for its efforts in the face of widespread disbelief. In what amounts to a major engineering breakthrough for its military-industrial sector ( not far behind indigenous carbon fiber production from two months ago), a state-run news organ announced Iran’s first railgun.

Of course, there aren’t any pictures to support its claims. But Iran’s reverse-engineering know-how isn’t anything to sniff at. Whether it’s F5 jets or TOW missiles (to name a few), the IRGC and its research arms are driving headlong towards full self-sufficiency in their defense needs. It’s a model that security-conscious developing countries might want to emulate. Despite Iran’s sometimes laughable conventional weapons capabilities they’ve got a formidable medium-range missile arsenal.

The report that broke the news is very brief, so it wouldn’t hurt to quote it in full:

According to FNA dispatches, the home-made advanced gun (Railgun) enjoys a capability to fire thirty 8mm steel bullets per minute at targets. 

The gun needs 2 seconds to recharge after each shot and fires bullets at a velocity of 330 meters per second (about the speed of the sound).

The gun’s specification, including its high technology, soundlessness and its ability to fire bullets without explosive propellant has made it desirable for guarding important persons, protecting ammo caches, oil and gas installations and refineries and other vital centers and remote-protection of military and other sensitive and vital sites and facilities.

Tehran launched an arms development program during the 1980-88 Iraqi imposed war on Iran, to compensate for a US weapons embargo. Since 1992, Iran has produced its own tanks, armored personnel carriers, missiles and fighter planes.

Yet, Iranian officials have always stressed that the country’s military and arms programs serve defensive purposes and should not be perceived as a threat to any other country.

Via Fars News Agency