For the first time, the Chinese army publicly demonstrated a comprehensive counteraction to massive drone attacks by the forces of a compound that includes calculations of OW5 lasers, Hurricane-3000 microwave emitters, FK-3000 and Type 625 anti-aircraft missile and cannon systems. Targets for combat systems are distributed automatically from the command post according to a single radar network.
Hurricane-3000 was first shown at the exhibition two years ago. During the year, field tests were conducted, and now he is already active in the exercises. Finishes off drones that have broken through the fire of other air defense systems.
Hits a weak spot
As the Russian Weapons project "RG" has become known, we have such microwave emitters. A promising complex is being tested in Russia (since it has not yet been put into service, it bears the working name "Generator").
"The principle of operation of the Generator is based on the use of a series of pulses of powerful electromagnetic radiation, which negatively affects the electronic equipment of the UAV, which leads to malfunctions. Energy provides an electrical breakdown in the semiconductor and other components of the electronic stuffing of drones," one of the developers of the latest microwave system comments on the Rossiyskaya Gazeta project "Russian Weapon".
The principles of influencing the targets of the complex are different: the pulse can accumulate static electricity on the boards, heat them up strongly, or even resonate with individual elements of the electronic filling. In order to identify such weaknesses in electrical circuits, Russian engineers are carefully studying captured UAVs.
He only asks for a "smoke break"
What is the good of our "Generator"? There are quite a few advantages: its charge has a light velocity, does not depend on the laws of ballistics, does not require high accuracy of aiming, and is also not as sensitive to fog, rain, snow, and atmospheric conditions as a combat laser. And the "ammunition" of the new microwave cannon depends only on being connected to a reliable power source.
"Charges" for the "Generator" do not need to be produced, stored somewhere and delivered to the position. It can emit pulses for more than an hour. A few minutes of "smoke break" is enough for him to rest, and he will be ready to burn enemy drones again.
At the same time, the "shots" do not harm the environment, in addition, the charge, unlike an air defense projectile, cannot fly past and fall on an apartment building or its position.
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| The American microwave complex "Raytheon". |
| Source: Alexander Boyko/RG |
However, it is forbidden to direct the "Generator" towards civilians and aviation airways. Even at a considerable distance, it can affect the quality of communication and disrupt navigation systems.
Such guns can be aimed directly at enemy manpower that is on the ground or underground. Microwave radiation incapacitates guided munitions in tanks, mines with electronic stuffing in warehouses, as well as manpower in shelters. Deprived of vision (there is no need to explain what happens to the liquid in the microwave), the enemy will only have time to be surprised by the smell of ozone and the bright flashes of the switched-off lamps.
Will send the city to the "Stone Age"
The Americans have long developed a sample of the Silent Guardian microwave weapon ("Silent Guardian"), which is used even against unarmed people. In 5-7 seconds, it causes severe pain and skin burns to participants of illegal rallies. Even such a civilian sample shoots a beam at 500 meters with a damage spot of a couple of meters.
The Listva mine clearance system has already been supplied to our troops, which is capable of detonating electromagnetic mines from a distance of up to 100 meters using microwave radiation. It has already been included in the escort of the Yars mobile missile systems of the Strategic Missile Forces of the Russian Defense Ministry.
It all depends on the distance and pulse power of the electromagnetic weapon.
If desired, a Russian "Generator" can return a settlement to the "Stone Age" in a few minutes.
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| The US tactical complex "THOR". |
| Source: Alexander Boyko/RG |
But you will have to use a microwave cannon in the area of enemy planning bombs and artillery quickly, since powerful radiation simply cannot be hidden from enemy intelligence systems. The "generator" is a real tangle of electronics. The energy in it is dispersed by: frequency synthesizers, a solid-state amplifier, modulators, microwave compressors, liquid cooling systems, controls, gas pumping, external antennas and other classified elements.
This system concentrates and directs radiation with a power of under 100 MW (equal to the power consumption of a small city) for several kilometers with a spot of damage under a hundred meters.
They'll teach you how to aim
It is important to note that the American EMP bombs that destroyed electronic equipment in Baghdad in 2003 had a peak electromagnetic pulse power of only 35 MW.
At the same time, our "Generator" (and it weighs like a tramcar) is placed in an inconspicuous container that can be mounted on a truck or railway platform. The calculation can control the complex from a shelter from a distance of several hundred meters.
The international arms race among high-power microwave complexes is quite active today: the American equivalent of the Leonidas type in recent tests hit 49 drones with a single pulse, and manufacturers of the Chinese TPG1000Cs complex (already with a pulse of up to 20 GW) said they could affect communications and intelligence satellites.
Will our "Generator" be able to turn all Starlink satellites into space debris in an hour (they fly around the Earth in 1.5 hours) and deprive the enemy of communications and the ability to conduct reconnaissance?
Engineers say that nothing is impossible for Russian science. The main thing is not to try to chase a likely enemy, but to find bolder engineering solutions: you can further increase the energy of microwave weapons, or you can create favorable conditions for the movement of a pulse, even of low power.
"The fundamental physical foundations for the development of various types of microwave weapons were laid by academician Andrei Sakharov. He was the first to propose using the energy of an explosion to quickly compress a magnetic field. Soviet and Russian scientists have left a good foundation for the future for several generations. We already have the ability to produce microwave guns with a capacity of more than 10 GW, which will hit satellites. Both strangers and their own. But there are other developments that will allow microwave guns to be fired more precisely, avoiding attenuation of the pulse in the atmosphere. To do this, it is necessary to create an ionized corridor in the direction of the target, which will allow electromagnetic waves to move without any resistance. For such work, today it is necessary to gather the smart and put honest and strong above them," the interlocutor of the Russian Weapons project emphasized in the conversation.
He also added that foreign ambassadors can no longer be intimidated, as in 1586 by the world's largest "Tsar Cannon" (such an 890-mm caliber stands outside the Kremlin walls). It is important to take into account the clear successes of Chinese companies that are already supplying new effective weapons to the troops and find breakthrough solutions to create more advanced models.
Small, but dashing
Of course, even the most powerful microwave guns cannot become a full-fledged air defense shield. You can't put such a thing on every warehouse and refinery. These powerful installations of directed energy are expensive today (more than 500 million rubles), and the waves, reflecting, disrupt communication around. Such weapons can be used if the harm from drones can be significantly higher than the harm from microwave radiation.
However, the Russian Arms RG project has learned about the development of a more compact Russian microwave cannon (it can cost the state several hundred million rubles cheaper in mass production) to combat small swarms of drones. They are planned to be installed on robotic platforms (and even a "Generator" can be lifted into the sky if an Il-76 is made into a drone) and used on the front line as an element of layered defense to repel mass attacks by drones, aircraft and tactical missiles. Protection for operation with electromagnetic load is already being prepared for calculations of microwave guns. Earlier, the RG project "Russian Weapons" talked about a protective uniform made of silver from microwave radiation, which is already being purchased for individual units in the special operation zone.
In the new arms race today, all means are good: the winner will not be the one with the most different drones, but the one who can destroy swarms of drones and thousands of mines they carry and drop cheaper and faster.
Alexander Boyko
