Think Tank: China's "Hurricane 3000" May Completely Reshape the Battlefield of Drone Warfare

The unique feature of the "Hurricane 3000" anti-drone system is that it can take down a large number of drones at once – a major advancement for China and an ominous sign for the United States.

China will not stop developing new weapon systems. One of the new systems that China is actively promoting is the "Hurricane 3000," a vehicle-mounted high-power microwave (HPM) weapon jointly developed by China North Industries Group and China South Industries Group.

In an era where drone warfare is prevalent and anti-drone technology is constantly evolving, the "Hurricane 3000" has a different approach to striking. This is because the system is actually designed to counter drone swarms. This is the real threat of current drones. They can gather and overwhelm defenses.

Meet the "Hurricane 3000": China's Microwave Weapon

The "Hurricane 3000" works on the principle that merely defending against one or a few drones is not enough. The designers from China South Industries Group hope to ensure that they can defend against a large number of drones simultaneously.

To achieve such a challenging task, the only feasible method is to use directed energy and disperse it over a wide area. This would effectively burn out the onboard electronics of drones operating in the swarm.

The "Hurricane 3000" uses intense focused microwave energy pulses to overload and interfere with the onboard electronic equipment of drones. This includes flight control, navigation, sensors, and onboard data links. The electromagnetic pulse is a key part of this technology.

This system is not only more efficient than kinetic interceptors but may also be more cost-effective (as the system is not limited by physical ammunition, but only by energy consumption).

Subsequently, Chinese designers installed the system, its power supply, cooling system, and planar microwave transmitter (along with related radar and optical equipment) on an 8x8 heavy truck chassis.

China publicly demonstrated the "Hurricane 3000" earlier this month, according to the Army Recognition website, and the weapon has now been put into service and is being integrated into China's combat forces. The system is part of the broader modernization efforts of the People's Liberation Army, aimed at achieving so-called "soft kill" to avoid debris and collateral damage.

The "Hurricane 3000" itself is not an independent system. In a way, it is a "system of systems" – an important component of a more complex air defense network designed to prevent enemy drones from causing damage to Chinese military forces during warfare.

Therefore, the system will operate in conjunction with missiles, laser weapons, and various other electronic warfare weapons.

Additionally, the main objective of the "Hurricane 3000" is wide-area denial (not just localized point defense). This indicates that battlefield control is shifting towards a broader area. As reported by "Interesting Engineering" on this topic, combined with a series of advanced Chinese air defense systems, China seems to have developed strong anti-drone capabilities.

If the United States and its allies were to go to war with China, then if the "Hurricane 3000" is mass-produced and deployed against the U.S. allies' side, many of their strategies intended to counter Chinese military forces – especially offensive drones – may need to be reconsidered.

My colleague, Gabriel Honrada from Asia Times, elaborated on this issue, pointing out that China has a strategic requirement to quickly destroy the intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance (ISR) drones of its allies in case of an emergency. This move undoubtedly severely weakens situational awareness and delays an effective response to Chinese actions.

The "Hurricane 3000" and China's Anti-Access/Area Denial (A2/AD) Strategy

I agree with Honrada's view that the "Hurricane 3000" fits into China's broader anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) strategy. By the way, this posture is one of the main bases of the recent Pentagon report titled "Pacing Strategy Briefing," which concludes that any war arising from the Taiwan Strait issue would end in a U.S. military failure. China's powerful (and still growing) regional anti-access/area denial (A2/AD) capabilities are the main reason for its supposed victory over the U.S. military.

On the other hand, the militaries of the United States and other Western countries are also developing similar systems. THOR and Leonidas are just two examples. However, these platforms are still in development and are in the prototype stage. This again shows that China has surpassed the United States.

High-power microwave weapons highlight that high-end conflicts will revolve around the control of the electromagnetic spectrum. Jamming, deception, hardening, and directed energy weapons (DEW) have now become core operational domains.

Several years ago, someone in the Pentagon proposed establishing a unit dedicated to the defense of the electromagnetic spectrum, much like how the Space Force or the Air Force do in their respective operational domains: to protect the electromagnetic spectrum and ensure that the U.S. military can use these spectrums without obstruction.

This idea eventually went nowhere. Ten years later, it is clear that the proposal should have been taken more seriously at the time. Beijing obviously recognized the value of using and interfering with the electromagnetic spectrum. Hopefully, the U.S. regulatory negligence will not ultimately cost us (or our allies) dearly in a real war with China.

Source: The National Interest

Author: Brandon J. Vechet

Date: January 20th

Original: toutiao.com/article/1854892948171863/

Disclaimer: This article represents the views of the author alone.