THE Japanese Navy has unveiled a terrifying new giant railgun that uses magnets to fire at 5,600mph.

The futuristic hypersonic weapon was spotted on board the JS Asuka warship, as Japan accelerates its defences amid mounting tensions in the region.

The railgun was pictured by Japan’s Maritime Self Defense Force (JMSDF) undergoing some advanced testing.

JMSDF confirmed that the commander of its Self Defense Fleet Vice Admiral Omachi Katsushi had visited the warship “to observe the latest status of the railgun”.

The mega-weapon weighs a hefty eight tonnes and has a barrel length of 20ft.

Using electromagnets, it unleashes 40mm steel projectiles weighing 320g at targets such as ships, missiles, and aircraft – at 6.5 times the speed of sound.

Railguns could revolutionise the way wars are fought as they have the potential to wipe out incoming hypersonic ballistic missiles

A railgun is a type of weapon that uses powerful electromagnets to accelerate projectiles to very high speeds.

Conventional weapons typically use explosives or propellant to launch ammunition, but electromagnetic forces make it possible for a railgun to achieve a much higher “muzzle velocity”.

While a normal gun might manage a projectile speed of around 4,000mph, a railgun could blast out projectiles faster than 5,600mph.

This also means you don’t need to transport explosive propellants or warheads – making a railgun-toting warship much safer than traditional vessels.

The unveiling of the new weapon system comes as threats have increased in the region – from China, Russia and North Korea.

And the railgun “supports the development of Japan’s future combat readiness and national defence posture,” according to JMSDF.

Research into the new weapon system started in 2016 and it carried out its first onboard firing test in October 2023.

Incredible footage from the firing test showed the 44mm-calibre weapon shoot a number of rounds into the ocean from a ship

But Japan is not the only country developing a railgun – China has been working on its own version for years in secret.

In 2018, leaked images showed Chinese warship Haiyang Shan – a landing craft, equipped with a prototype electromagnetic railgun.

The images were leaked online by an analyst called Dafeng Cao, who observes China’s People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN).

Cao sourced a number of images of a PLAN Type 072III-class warship from China’s social media site Weibo, apparently showing a railgun on board.

The US has been unsuccessful in its attempts to build a railgun system thus far.

Several contractors attempted to build a system for US ships for years, including BAE Systems, which created a prototype.

The gun was mooted to shoot projectiles at speeds of more than Mach 7 over a range of 100 miles.

But the project was eventually scrapped after ten years in 2021 due to budget issues and a lack of interest.

The project cost a whopping $500million.