High-Power Microwave Weapons: A Powerful Tool Against Drone Swarms

  High-power microwave weapons are a type of radio frequency weapon that uses directed high-power electromagnetic pulse beams (with a peak pulse power usually exceeding 100 megawatts) to damage targets. Generally composed of modules such as microwave generators, antennas, directed microwave transmitting devices and control systems, they can achieve long-distance electromagnetic interference and short-distance direct destruction of the optoelectronic equipment of targets.

High-Power Microwaves Emerge as the Times Require in Response to "Swarm Attacks"

  In 2020, the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict broke out. Azerbaijan made large-scale, systematic use of drones to launch a dimension-reducing drone swarm attack on Armenia's ground armed forces, seizing battlefield control in a short period of time. In armed conflicts around the world today, one warring party has used drone swarm assault tactics combined with cruise missiles to sink enemy large warships, while the other has also extensively used drones to destroy the opponent's power facilities. Faced with the characteristics of drone swarms, such as small size, large scale, high maneuverability and strong destructive power, traditional air defense weapons are limited by equipment capabilities and battlefield capacity, making it difficult to form effective defense.

  To address the new battlefield threats posed by drone swarms, major countries around the world are competing to develop anti-drone technologies and equipment, striving to counter drone swarm attacks through a combination of "soft kill" and "hard destruction". Among them, new-concept and new-mechanism weapons represented by high-power microwaves, which feature fast strike speed, large damage area and strong adaptability, have gradually become a magic weapon against drone swarms. With advantages such as high sensing accuracy, fast strike speed and strong anti-saturation attack capability, high-power microwave weapons have achieved remarkable results in countering drone swarms.

Operational Application and Tactical-Technical Advantages

 Implementing Information Suppression

  Compared with manned aircraft, drone swarms are more dependent on high-sensitivity sensors and wireless communication equipment. These devices are composed of a large number of precision electronic components and are extremely vulnerable to interference from thermal noise and electromagnetic noise generated by lasers. The microwaves generated by high-power microwave sources are radiated through high-gain directional antennas, concentrating the microwave energy into a narrow beam to form a high-power, energy-concentrated pulse beam. This beam irradiates the target at the speed of light and extremely high intensity, interfering with and damaging the electronic equipment of drone swarms. The "natural" suppression attribute of high-power microwaves on electronic equipment enables them to quickly identify, track and counter enemy drones or drone swarms, effectively weakening the enemy's ability to obtain information and combat capability, thereby expanding battlefield advantages.

 Low-Altitude Short-Range Blind Spot Compensation

  In the face of the "low, slow and small" characteristics of drone swarms, traditional air defense early warning radars have a series of problems such as "invisibility", "slow response", "long identification time" and "difficult tracking". In contrast, high-power microwave weapons are usually integrated with phased array radars, optoelectronic detection systems, command and control systems, etc., and have core advantages such as second-level response, area kill and high maneuverability. This integrated design of detection, control and strike eliminates the complex target information transmission links of traditional air defense systems. When facing the approaching and sudden attack of drone swarms, it supports both point kill and area kill modes. Without the need for precise aiming, it can emit microwaves through directional high-gain antennas to form a tight invisible interception network in the low-altitude short-range area, providing accompanying field air defense cover for troops.

Strong Anti-Saturation Attack Capability

  Different from traditional weapons, the "ammunition" of high-power microwave weapons comes from power supply systems. Theoretically, as long as there is sufficient electric energy, microwave weapons will have a "massive magazine". The cost of each attack is only a few US dollars, and there is no time limit for reloading during the launch process, giving them the ability to launch quickly and repeatedly. In addition, their "ammunition" is an energy medium that travels at the speed of light, so the tracking and aiming system does not need to perform additional calculations for the predicted interception route. When countering agile and saturated drone swarm attacks, firepower transfer is more convenient and faster.

Microwave Countermeasures Still Face Challenges

  With the rapid development of artificial intelligence and cloud network technology and their wide application in the military field, the operational mode of drone swarms is gradually evolving and upgrading towards distributed detection and surveillance, full-band electromagnetic suppression, saturated swarm assault and diversified coordinated operations. Moreover, with the significant reduction in the cost of use and maintenance, a large-scale combat force can be formed in a relatively short time, posing great challenges to microwave countermeasures.

  First, there is a bottleneck in efficiency conversion. At present, the peak power of mainstream high-power microwave sources can reach the gigawatt level, but the power-to-radio frequency conversion efficiency is generally only 30%. Ensuring high-power output directly leads to problems such as large volume and weight, high heat dissipation and difficulty in platform adaptation. For large-scale consumer-grade targets such as drone swarms, if the energy cannot be concentrated on more than dozens of targets in a single attack, the cost-effectiveness ratio will be unbalanced.

  Second, self-interference and mutual interference are inevitable. In operational applications, microwave weapons are usually deployed in ways such as key area defense and accompanying defense. Their frequency usage overlaps with that of adjacent information equipment, which may interfere with the electronic equipment and communication intelligence systems of friendly forces within a certain range, affecting the normal operation of friendly electronic information equipment.

  Third, effectiveness is weakened in complex environments. In complex environments such as cities and mountainous areas, multipath reflection causes beam distortion; in severe weather conditions such as rain, snow and fog, energy transmission attenuation will further increase, making it difficult to accurately cover drone swarms.

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Post time:Sep-25-2020