Stephen Chenin Beijing

Published: 10:00am, 25 May 2025

A Chinese electromagnetic coil gun capable of firing at 3,000 rounds per minute – a rate that obliterates traditional firearms and greatly surpasses US commercial models by orders of magnitude – has been captured on video.

The footage, released by state-owned arms manufacturer China South Industries Group (CSGC) on April 18, has raised eyebrows among military experts as the firing capacity greatly outstrips current weaponry and could redefine future combat.

While the CSGC remained tight-lipped about the technology involved, a peer-reviewed paper published on Monday by a team of military scientists offered a hint: the world’s first capacitor-free electromagnetic coil gun, powered directly by lithium batteries.

The breakthrough, detailed in China’s Journal of Gun Launch & Control, centres on eliminating the Achilles’ heel of electromagnetic weapons – capacitors.

Recent footage of the Chinese electromagnetic coil gun, which can fire 3,000 rounds per minute, shows it can shatter car windows and demolish door panels in seconds. Photo: douyin

Capacitors are devices that store electrical energy and until now coil guns have relied on that energy for rapid discharge, a process that creates lag times for recharging. This limitation had capped the firing rate of early Chinese prototypes and the US-made GR-1 “Anvil” to 100 rounds per minute.

The research team, led by Xiang Hongjun a professor from the Army Engineering University, bypassed capacitors entirely, instead using lithium battery arrays to directly energise a multi-stage coil system.

By removing the capacitor charging cycle, they shattered the firing rate ceiling, according to the authors.

Their tests achieved 277 rounds per minute, using just a 3D-printed prototype.

With China’s advancements in semiconductor chips and battery thermal management, practical applications have now far exceeded experimental results.

The technology was originally unveiled in 2023 and developed as a non-lethal weapon to be used in riot control. Photo: CCTV

The experimental rifle’s design features 20 copper coil stages, each 25mm (one inch) long, arranged in a compact bullpup chassis inspired by the Belgian P90 submachine gun.

When a steel projectile, or armature, passes a coil, the sensors trigger nanosecond-precise insulated-gate bipolar transistor semiconductor power chips to send power through the coil, generating magnetic fields that propel the projectile.

Crucially, the system uses position-timing mapping algorithms to activate coils just 2mm before the projectile enters and cuts power 35mm after they exit – a balance that maximises acceleration while minimising reverse drag.

Key innovations in the study include safety fuses to prevent battery overload during 750A current spikes, finite element simulations optimising coil triggers to milliseconds, and heat dissipation engineering that limits the battery’s temperature rise.

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The test model reportedly achieves 86 metres per second (282 feet per second) projectile velocity, suited for non-lethal riot control but scalable for lethal purposes.

More critically, its rate of fire of 3,000 rounds per minute – five times faster than an AK-47 – enables unprecedented suppression fire.

“Continuous high-speed fire deters approaching threats and overwhelms enemy reactions, which is ideal for riot control, ” Xiang and his colleagues wrote.

Other advantages include no muzzle flash, silent operation, and adjustable lethality, making it ideal for “covert missions”, they added.

While revolutionary, the technology faces hurdles such as relatively low precision and relatively long battery charging time, which is about an hour at present, according to CSGS.

Stephen Chen

Stephen Chen is the SCMP's science news editor. He investigates major research projects in China, a new power house of scientific and technological innovation