A huge truck-mounted system is one of at least three large mobile ground-based high-power microwave directed energy weapons, primarily intended to down drones, at this year’s Zhuhai Airshow. This underscores a global explosion of demand for counter-drone capabilities, as well as China’s steady progress in the development, fielding, and exporting of microwave and laser directed energy weapons.

Officially known as the China International Aviation & Aerospace Exhibition, the Zhuhai Airshow also provides an opportunity for Chinese and foreign companies to showcase ground-based and maritime offerings. Pictures and videos of various aircraft and other systems have been steadily emerging ahead of the event’s formal opening next week.

The imagery that has appeared online already amid the Zhuhai preparations includes a promotional video from state-run firms China South Industries Group Corporation (CSGC) and Norinco that features footage of two high-power microwave directed energy weapons, as well as other air defense systems.

The first of these is a microwave system consisting of a large planar array mounted on top of an 8×8 light armored vehicle chassis. The system also has small rotating radar, which would make sense for target detection and tracking purposes. The underlying vehicle looks to be the same one used in the Type 625E self-propelled short-range air defense system, or a variant or derivative thereof, another CSGC/Norinco offering also seen in the promotional video.

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The CSGC/Norinco video also shows an even larger microwave system, again including a planar array and radar, but this time installed on a Shacman SX2400/2500-series 8×8 truck. This design is seen at the top of this story and below in its traveling configuration.

The video does not provide specific details about the full features or capabilities of either CSGC/Norinco high-power microwave weapon system, including whether they have additional sensors. A clip at the end does show a small drone being downed by one of the systems, with an infrared camera feed also visible. Electro-optical and infrared cameras are often combined with directed energy counter-drone systems to help positively identify and track targets.

Pictures of a third high-power microwave directed energy weapon system, which is also mounted on a Shacman SX2400/2500-series truck, have also emerged. This system has its microwave array on a different style of articulating mount at the rear of the vehicle, as well as what looks to be a radar inside a dome on an extendable mast toward the cab end.

Images that have been circulating online of the preparations for Zhuhai have also shown what look to be various laser directed energy systems, again likely primarily for counter-drone use, mounted on light armored vehicles and uncrewed ground platforms.

Work on directed energy weapons of various types, including for counter-drone use, in China and elsewhere around the world is not new. America’s armed forces are actively pursuing a number of ground and ship-based systems. However, there has been a notable new clamor among armed forces globally, including the U.S. military, to expand their abilities to defend against uncrewed aerial threats in recent years. The ongoing war in Ukraine, which has become heavily defined by drone use by both sides at all levels, from long-range strikes to kamikaze attacks on forces right on the front lines, has been the primary driver. Increasing uncrewed aerial system use in other conflicts, including ones in and around the Middle East, have been contributing factors, too.

How a microwave directed energy weapon focuses its beam, along with its power levels, affect its maximum effective range and how many threats it can engage at once. However, the beams are typically relatively broad, especially compared to laser directed energy weapons, which also helps get on target faster. They are also often less impacted by environmental factors.

As such, high-power microwave-based systems present a particularly attractive option for defeating large volumes of threats, including drones operating as part of fully networked swarms, an additional concern that is only set to grow in the future. Microwave energy, which can disrupt or even destroy a range of electronic systems, presents a threat to other types of targets in the air and down below, including cruise missiles, as well.

On the counter-drone front, China is well aware of the ever-growing threat ecosystem given its own substantial and still expanding investments in the development and fielding of various tiers of uncrewed aerial systems, as well as swarming capabilities, which are also on display at Zhuhai. The country has also been making steady progress in work on directed energy capabilities, including multiple existing ground-based types.

The microwave directed energy and other systems that will be on display at Zhuhai highlight an additional export dimension, as well. China has already sold directed energy counter-drone systems abroad. Just in October, a Chinese laser directed energy weapon appeared in the Iranian capital Tehran during a high-profile appearance by Iran’s Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Though it remains unclear what other capabilities were deployed to protect the Iranian Supreme Leader, The War Zone noted at the time that images from the event showed what looked to be a planar array as is commonly seen on microwave-based systems.

It is important to stress that the real capabilities of any these Chinese systems are unclear. At the same time, China has been steadily working to get those systems into at least some level of operational use while the U.S. military has notably lagged in doing so on and off traditional battlefields. When it comes to domestic drone defense considerations, American armed forces are also notably not interested at all currently in directed energy weapons, or more traditional kinetic effectors like surface-to-air missiles or guns, due in large part to legal and regulatory issues.

In the meantime, China’s continued high-power microwave and laser directed energy developments look set to be an especially significant part of this year’s Zhuhai airshow.

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