China mulls building nuclear-powered tank with 450km-range railgun in 2 decades
Por Chao Kong — South China Morning Post – News feed
Advertisement Science China Science China mulls building nuclear-powered tank with 450km-range railgun in 2 decades
Further multi-physics simulations and vehicle-level testing needed before proposed systems could move towards practical deployment
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Chao Kong in Beijing Published: 8:00pm, 15 Sep 2026 Chinese military researchers have outlined an ambitious plan to develop a nuclear-powered main battle tank armed with an electromagnetic railgun capable of hitting targets up to 450km (280 miles) away, possibly debuting after 2045.
Detailed in a peer-reviewed paper published in June in the Chinese journal Acta Armamentarii, the concept envisions a 60-tonne armoured vehicle driven by a 10-megawatt-class small modular reactor (SMR) and a 50-megajoule (MJ) railgun.
The paper was written by researchers from Inner Mongolia First Machinery Group – part of China’s defence industrial system and closely associated with the development and manufacture of tanks and armoured vehicles – and the Beijing Institute of Technology .
The National Key Laboratory of Special Vehicle Design and Manufacturing Integration Technology funded the study through a special research project.
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