The Ukraine-Russia conflict has demonstrated the importance of drones in modern warfare, as well as the vulnerability of traditional armies against drones. However, several of China's "drone killers" are fully capable of making these aerial threats "come and go without returning," finally providing a solution to the global challenge of "anti-drone."

(LY-1 Shipboard Laser Air Defense System)

At the recent 9.3 military parade, three types of directed energy weapons made a "burst" appearance, drawing significant attention.

(Mengshi Vehicle-Mounted Laser Weapon System)

They are the Mengshi Vehicle-Mounted Medium and Small High-Energy Laser Weapon, the LY-1 Shipboard Laser Air Defense System, and the High-Energy Microwave Weapon System.

(High-Energy Microwave Weapon System)

Earlier this year, China had also revealed another laser air defense system called OW5 developed by China North Industries Group, which sparked discussions from multiple foreign media outlets including Defense Blogs. It is known that the system has three sub-models, including the A10 model based on the Mengshi 181 six-wheel off-road vehicle chassis, the A30 model using the Beibei six-axis chassis, and the A50 model using the Shaanxi "Big Eight-Wheel" chassis.

(OW5 Laser Air Defense System with Mengshi Chassis - A10 Model)

(OW5 Laser Air Defense System with "Big Eight-Wheel" Chassis - A50 Model)

However, although two of the laser air defense systems displayed at the military parade also use the Mengshi chassis and similar "Big Eight-Wheel" chassis, their appearances differ in some aspects. It is currently unclear whether there is a direct connection between them.

As a reference, the A10 model of the OW5 laser air defense system with the Mengshi chassis has a power output of 10 kW, with a range of about 2 kilometers, equipped with a single-faced radar and an electro-optical integrated aiming device. Although this configuration may seem low, it is not a disadvantage because its task is merely to quickly move with the troops and provide anti-drone capabilities in the field environment, targeting small drones such as FPV. The new laser air defense system displayed at the 9.3 military parade may also adopt a similar power output and mission positioning.

The other larger laser air defense system with an eight-wheel truck chassis is likely to maintain a power output of 50 kW-70 kW, mainly responsible for intercepting medium and large drones, missiles, and loitering munitions. Notably, the previously independently developed 30 kW "Silent Hunter" laser air defense system has been exported to Saudi Arabia and successfully shot down multiple drones from the Houthi armed forces in combat. Because of its excellent performance, many countries have begun to extend olive branches to China, asking whether they consider exporting more advanced OW5 laser air defense systems.

("Silent Hunter" is the previous generation of laser air defense system developed by China)

Aside from the two new laser weapons, the high-energy microwave weapon system also attracted the attention of many spectators.

It is not difficult to see that the main feature of this microwave weapon is the large rotating flat panel antenna array it carries, indicating that it is likely to mainly undertake the air defense tasks of key areas for the PLA, rather than field support air defense tasks — after all, a "big eight-wheel" cannot easily follow the Mengshi fleet to rapidly move and cross mountains and rivers.

(New Microwave Air Defense System)

However, as long as it can "stand still" on the battlefield, it can create a "drone vacuum area" to the maximum extent. Unlike laser air defense systems that directly burn and destroy enemy drones through lasers, microwave weapons mainly kill enemy drones through high-power directed microwaves. The electromagnetic pulse it emits can directly penetrate the drone's shell, destroying internal components such as the motherboard, antenna, and motor, truly "killing enemies in silence." In addition, microwave weapons also have an AOE skill, enabling them to conduct area damage on drone swarms.

Earlier photos showed that the Chinese Army has already partially equipped and tested another microwave weapon called "Hurricane-3000." However, the new microwave weapon appearing during the military parade seems to have a higher power and has added a retractable small vehicle-mounted radar, giving it stronger search and suppression capabilities against low, small, and slow targets like drones.

("Hurricane-3000" Air Defense System)

Notably, China is currently the only country in the world to have such microwave directed energy weapons. Previously, the U.S. Navy and Army had purchased a small number of the "Leonidas" mobile microwave system developed by Epirus. However, compared to the Hurricane-3000, the Leonidas system is significantly behind in terms of antenna array size, power output, and number of units in service. It can be said that in microwave air defense systems, China is likely already the de facto "number one" in the world.

("Leonidas" Microwave Weapon of the U.S. Military)

The display of laser and microwave weapons marks further improvement of China's short-range air defense system. Currently, China has built a complete anti-drone composite kill network in short-range air defense — vehicle-mounted microwave weapons conduct wide-area interference and destruction of incoming drones, and those that escape are "surrounded and destroyed" by various laser air defense systems. If laser ablation fails to destroy them in time, the FK-3000 and other traditional combined anti-aircraft systems will open fire for support.

In short, with this unique global comprehensive short-range air defense network of the PLA, any conspiracy to "imitate Ukraine by using drones to counter the PLA" is absolutely impossible to achieve.

Original article: https://www.toutiao.com/article/7546047196391604770/

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