Chinese research and development have developed Directed Energy Weapons (DEWs). Now, kinetic weapons might become obsolete with such high-tech weaponry on the move.
Space is the next theatre of combat where knocking out US military equipment and Elon Musk's Starlink satellites could be targeted.
Weapons using bullets may not work in space that well, but microwaves and lasers have limitless possibilities on earth and in space.
China's Microwave Directed Energy Weapons
Although it is still too far, the research team in China claims to develop a powerful microwave device whose frequency is used by industrial and military equipment, noted the South China Morning Post.
Researchers in Mianyang, Sichuan province, said the transmitter could work via short pulse in the Ka microwave band. Power rated at 5 megawatts which is more than tests measured.
Applications of the system in satellite communication, radar, nuclear fusion, and medical research, reported the Eurasian Times.
One of the researchers, Li Shifeng, expressed interest in applications of the Ka-band. He is part of a project in the China Academy of Engineering Physics that could harness the power of Lasers and Particle Beams for next-generation applications.
The band is a higher frequency of microwaves oscillating from 26.5 and 40 gigahertz, implying more power than DEWs.
Its no accident choosing the Ka-band for directed energy weapons in space, where Starlink satellites link up with, which the US Army will adopt the system by 2027 for its drones mentioned by Aviation Today.
These devices are smaller directed DEWS with high capacity density and resist jamming for military intel systems that is right for the space environment. No other system gives seamless transmission compared to other alternatives.
Using these bands for space has fast data transfer with no loss of quality in most weather conditions from earth stations. China wants to make sure that its satellites don't fall prey to energy attacks, and the west would concern about this development.
A month before, the Chinese have developed a new technology that hardens satellites from a microwave attack. Some are in use but not indicated.
In a new era of space competition development, such tech will not allow China's assets to be so vulnerable. Ruling space is the next race that could turn into a full-scale conflict, so protecting space assets is a must.
Chinese Technology To Target Western Equipment
One way to kill any device is to generate a microwave source that operates at a similar frequency higher or lower to jam radio devices and necessary hardware to immobile the target.
Innovations in the Ka-band have boosted it to more megawatts, but Li and his team found that increasing output would degrade the signal.
A simple addition to the design is a cone shape muzzle that converts charged electrons into high-band microwaves when the device fires high-energy electrons through a tube.
The muzzle design is known as the relativistic klystron amplifier (RKA), pioneered by US naval researchers in the late 1980s. Before, the design only produced a few kilowatts of power.
Dr. Li made changes in component layout to allow fine-tuning, achieving 501 megawatts in one test of the new prototype. According to their report, computer modeling implied that it can still be improved.
The development of Directed Energy Weapons in the Ka-band using microwaves to take down satellites or drones will change everything about warfare on earth and in space for China.
