China Developing Microwave Weapon With Power to Destroy Satellites

16th Jan 2025
China Developing Microwave Weapon With Power to Destroy Satellites

Chinese researchers are said to have created a high-powered microwave weapon that has an incredible amount of power, roughly equivalent to the electromagnetic energy released by a nuclear explosion.

Could China’s New Microwave Weapon Change Warfare Forever?

The main purpose seems to be for anti-missile and anti-drone capabilities, but it is yet to be field tested. The weapon could be a valuable part of military use and could even potentially destroy electronics that can be very important in warfare.

These types of weapons are called HPMs (High-Power Microwaves) and the United States is reportedly developing some that could be deployed in the Indo-Pacific region. People have speculated about the potential for these to take out satellites and escalate conflict between the global superpowers.

HPMs normally use a satellite-dish-type antenna with multiple degrees of rotation to engage targets, but the supposed new Chinese HPM has phased array transmission technology which could enable “precisely focused energy, increasing its effective range and enhancing damage effects, enabling simultaneous attacks on multiple targets,” according to researchers.

These have been considered unstable technologies historically, but Interesting Engineering reports that the researchers have overcome challenges and can produce microwaves that approach a gigawatt in power, as well as a means of distributing EM waves into eight independent channels.

What’s an HPM?

The South China Morning Post (SCMP) reports that this technology uses a unique power divider which can distribute up to 80,000 volts per meter, a level that is comparable to nuclear weapon explosions. This power divider has been tested more than 5,000 times with little to no tail erosion or damage.

If these reports do turn out to be true, then China’s military capabilities could be the most efficient examples of HPMs. The weapon has emitted Ku-band electromagnetic pulses which is the same frequency band that satellites like Starlink use.

The SCMP has also reported that to reduce costs, some components may not follow military standards and may not have the required reinforcements to sustain attacks. With Starlink’s use in the Russia-Ukraine war, satellites are crucial to modern warfare and the development of anti-satellite weapons is a focus for global superpowers.

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