When the U.S.-built YAL-1 airborne laser anti-missile system, which cost $5 billion, was quietly scrapped in 2011 due to its technical complexity, high cost, and insufficient survivability of the aircraft, the world believed that space-based laser interception of ballistic missiles was a technological dead end. However, China's aviation industry is now opening up a path on this "dead end" with astonishing innovation.

On August 10, 2025, the official Toutiao account "G60 Laser Alliance of the Yangtze River Delta" of the Suzhou Industrial Park Laser Industry Entrepreneurship Alliance published an article titled "AVIC Plans to Develop a 200-Ton Strategic Laser Aircraft, Pioneering a New Era in Aviation History," revealing for the first time that China is developing a strategic laser interception aircraft based on the Y-20 platform, code-named "Hongying," which may completely reshape the nuclear deterrence landscape among major powers.

The G60 Laser Alliance, as the core organization of the Suzhou laser industry cluster, is backed by Soochow University and more than 500 enterprises along the industrial chain, and its technical updates have significant implications for the industry. The article clearly stated that China has overcome the technical bottlenecks that the United States failed to solve, featuring characteristics such as light weight, small size, high efficiency, high power, good heat dissipation, and strong stability. Possible technical breakthroughs include the following:

First, it uses the world's largest diameter barium gallium selenide crystal of 60 millimeters, with an anti-damage threshold more than ten times that of existing military optical materials, laying the foundation for a multi-megawatt laser.

Second, the high-energy solid-state laser achieves a "power density jump"—the volume is smaller than traditional models, and the heat dissipation efficiency is several times higher, completely overcoming the cumbersome shortcomings of the YAL-1 chemical laser.

Third, it modifies the Y-20 platform to install a laser launch cabin and heat dissipation fins.

If this goal is achieved, China's anti-missile capabilities will gain a revolutionary breakthrough: from "kinetic interception" to "light-speed destruction."

Traditional anti-missile systems experience a sharp drop in interception rates when facing hypersonic missiles that maneuver and change orbits. However, "Hongying" redefines the rules of defense with three technical advantages: a light-speed strike of 300,000 kilometers per second renders the maneuverability of hypersonic missiles zero. Deployed at an altitude of ten thousand meters, the laser is significantly less affected by the atmosphere, with a theoretical interception range that is much farther, covering the boost phase, mid-course, and terminal phase of ballistic missiles. The cost of a single launch is just a fraction of that of missile interception, or negligible.

If "Hongying" achieves initial combat readiness as planned by 2030 and is fully deployed by 2035, it will fundamentally change the logic of nuclear deterrence:

Destroying the missile during engine operation, making the separated multiple warheads ineffective. It becomes the only means currently capable of effectively intercepting hypersonic glide vehicles and hypersonic cruise missiles. Combined with land-based mid-course interception and sea-based interception, it builds a "nuclear umbrella" covering the entire trajectory, pushing the credibility of a second strike to nearly 100%.

Beneath the brilliant prospects lie severe challenges: continuous supply of megawatt-level energy, battlefield survival of the system, etc. The breakthrough path taken by AVIC demonstrates unique wisdom: modifying the Y-20 rather than developing a new one, maximizing the reuse of mature platforms; leveraging the Yangtze River Delta laser industry cluster (Suzhou has 200 core enterprises) to accelerate technological transformation; prototype aircraft flight by the end of 2025 → initial combat readiness by 2030 → full deployment by 2035.

From the J-20 breaking the stealth monopoly to "Hongying" challenging the limits of laser anti-missile technology, every breakthrough of China's military industry is reshaping the strategic balance. If the Y-20 strategic laser interception aircraft is successfully deployed, it not only means that China will become the first country in the world with an airborne laser anti-missile system, but also marks a nuclear security revolution — a qualitative shift from "mutual deterrence" to "absolute security." This road once abandoned by the United States is now regaining vitality due to China's material revolution, system integration, and strategic perseverance, and the next chapter of great power competition is already visible in the beam of light.



Original text: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7541292351306727982/

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