Beijingers pose for pictures in front of tanks, jets and of one of China's first nuclear missiles, the Dong Feng 1, as they visit the Military Museum of Chinese People's Revolution. (Photo : Getty Images)
For over six years, Huang Wenhua and his team have been working on a potent microwave weapon that is powerful enough to totally shut down electronic systems. It is also small enough to fit on a laboratory work bench, making it portable for it to be used on aircraft and land vehicles.
The team is from the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology and recently won China's National Science and Technology Progress Award. This is one of the highest honors in China to recognize citizens and organizations who have made remarkable contributions to scientific and technological progress.
It is said that the potent microwave weapon could even be fitted to a missile or a drone, just like the U.S. Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project.
The way microwave weapons shut down electronic system is by bombarding the target with energy pulses ranging from 300 to 300,000 megahertz.
The amount of directed energy interferes and overloads the electronic circuits on the system, which causes them to shut down.
The higher the energy produced by the weapon, the greater the disruption would be. Even those with traditional shielding against EMP can be shut down depending on the energy pulse frequency.
Energy pulses can even physically damage the system if it was targeted by very high-powered microwave weapons. This will be devastating if the targets are engines and communication systems.
China can find different uses for a microwave weapon that can kill electronics. It can be used defensively where it can be planted to electronic warfare booby traps, which ambushes and disables enemy vehicles and robots at contact.
It can also be mounted on vehicles, warships as well as aircraft to disable and distract missiles, small Unmanned Aerial Vehicles and personal vehicles of hostile forces at close range.
The real combat potential of a microwave weapon is in offensive use. It would be able to disable sophisticated enemy defenses if it was carried by a stealthy drone or a cruise missile. This includes surface-to-air missiles and anti-ship missile batteries.
It can also paralyze tank battalions and fry enemy radars, communication and control systems.
