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‘World first’: Chinese scientists create high-power microwave weapon for small drones

  • Chinese scientists claim they have created a microwave source for drones that could see a complete shift in the balance of military power
  • Modifying technology first developed in WWII, the new device can pick up the faintest radio signal and jam enemy communications

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Chinese researchers claim to have developed a microwave device that can attach to drones turning them into a high-powered electronic weapon. Photo: Dickson Lee
Stephen Chenin Beijing
A team of Chinese military scientists and defence industry engineers have developed a microwave source for drones that is more powerful than anything available worldwide, according to a new paper.
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This technological breakthrough, they claim, has the potential to alter the balance of military power permanently.
High-powered microwave devices along with all their sophisticated support equipment are usually big and bulky. A military with deep pockets can carry that weaponry on expensive aeroplanes or warships. Then they can wreak havoc on the enemy’s air defence and communication systems, leaving them in the dark.
This kind of electronic warfare is usually one-sided. But the new technology can help the little guys pack a punch, according to the researchers.
Professor Li Jianbing and his team at the PLA Strategic Support Force Information Engineering University have not said the exact size and weight of their new microwave weapon but do say that it has been custom-made to fit snugly on to all kinds of drones.
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“It will ‘plug and play’,” said their peer-reviewed paper in the High Power Laser and Particle Beams journal, published on November 24.

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