Posted on 11/08/2022 4:39:16 AM PST by FarCenter
China will be showing its latest drone-killing technology alongside other advanced weapons at the 14th China International Aviation and Aerospace Exhibition, which runs in Zhuhai, Guangdong, through this week.
The state-run Global Times reported that China would unveil at the event a new anti-drone system built around small-and-micro missiles, advanced sensors and radar and unmanned ground vehicles.
The system, made by China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC), China’s largest missile manufacturer, is comprised of an electro-optic radar and DK-1 low-altitude detecting radar, the ZK-K20 ground missile anti-air control system, HQ-17AE and QW-12 short-range missiles and the ZR-1500 unmanned smart defense weapon system.
The electro-optic radar and DK-1 low-altitude detecting radar work together to provide early warning and can detect multiple targets simultaneously. It can reportedly pinpoint 20 targets per second from 500 meters to 18 kilometers. Apart from drones, the DK-1 can detect ground vehicle targets as well.
The ZK-K20 ground missile anti-air control system is the system’s “brain” that integrates sensors and missiles, with the HQ-17AE and QW-12 as the primary weapons. The former missile has an interception range of 1.5 to 20 kilometers, with the system capable of guiding four missiles simultaneously.
In addition, the ZK-K20 system is armed with a soft-kill anti-drone electronic warfare suite and a cannonball launcher to solve cost issues in intercepting cheap drones.
The ZR-1500 serves as the security element for the system and is armed with 12 micro-missiles, four small missiles and two loitering munitions, and can switch to other weapons such as machine guns if needed.
It reportedly has an intercept range of 5 kilometers against targets such as fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, drones, ground vehicles and personnel.
“The rise of low, slow and small drones with rather agile applications on the battlefield has transformed the landscape of warfare, which tends to achieve surprisingly good strike effects,” says CASIC spokesperson Wang Wengang.
He notes that even the best air defenses can become useless against such drones, as they usually fly too low to be detected.
Recent rapid developments in drone warfare have shown they are now effective weapons in large-scale conventional wars, debunking previous thinking that drones are high-tech gadgets reserved for special forces in counterterrorism and insurgency roles. These developments likely prompted China to invest in anti-drone defenses.
The 2020 Nagorno-Karabakh war, the ongoing Ukraine war and the hypothetical use of drone swarms in a Taiwan invasion scenario all underline the evolution of warfare using drones in a mainstream role.
The best defense against a drone is another drone!
Why can’t a laser be designed with a tracking system to fry the sensors on a drone?
They can be. Directed high energy weapons just don’t have the energy reliably or cheaply. Small drones no problem, bigger and faster are just easier with rockets still.
Drones make good cat-chasers.
Imagine foxcon making it by the millions
—”Imagine foxcon making it by the millions”
Hard to say for certain, but Foxconn is a Taiwanese company.
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