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China’s determination to adapt to unmanned warfare is on show this week at its major weapons exhibition, with the unveiling of an all-round anti-drone system.
Developer China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (Casic), the country’s main missile maker, said the anti-unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) system was inspired by recent global conflicts, including the war in Ukraine, where various drone types have been widely used.
China is a major international supplier of drones for military and civilian use, with some of its non-military products also seen in battlefield use. The Chinese military is already deploying a range of drones, and at the same time is keen to develop countermeasures.
The system making its debut at the Zhuhai air show, which opened on Tuesday in Guangdong province, southern China, has a full skill set of “detection, reconnaissance, interference, control, interception and assessment” against at all types of UAVs.
In its introduction to the anti-UAV system, Casic said it provided a “comprehensive solution” to the key difficulties of countering the devices – usually that they are “too difficult to detect, too small to intercept and too costly to use air defence weapons”.
“The anti-UAV system … can effectively achieve the efficient and coordinated use of multiple types of detection equipment and interception weapons … and forms a comprehensive defence capability against all types of UAV targets ‘both near and far, high and low, with both hard and soft kill’,” the developer said.
“Hard kill” refers to physical attacks on enemy drones, while a “soft kill” is achieved by disrupting their electronics or deploying sensor dazzlers – measures to which small drones are quite vulnerable.
The Casic anti-UAV package’s early warning system features the DK-1 low-altitude radar – also making its debut at Zhuhai – and an electro-optical radar, tailored to search and track low-flying drones as well as their ground launch vehicles.
The ZK-K20 tactical command system can control medium and long range air-defence weapons to intercept large combat drones as well as perform close-in countermeasures against medium, small or mini drones, including those travelling in swarms, Casic said.
The interception portfolio has a range of equipment options, including the close-range HK-17AE missile system at its core, but most notable is the brand new FK-3000, an upgrade on last year’s truck-mounted FK-2000 platform.
The FK-3000 has a better off-road truck base, improving on the earlier version which can fire both anti-aircraft guns and missiles while travelling at 40km/hr (25 miles per hour) on a road surface.
The integrated advanced electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has been upgraded to four and armaments expanded. The FK-3000 has a firepower of 12 four-tube missile launchers, on top of anti-aircraft guns and electronic jamming devices.
Other interception options include the LW-30 laser beam defence system and “Skynet” road-mobile system, which has both military and civilian uses.
Finally, the combat vehicles are accompanied by at least two ZR-1500 unmanned ground vehicles (UGVs), carrying either detection or 4x6 missile modules, for additional information or firepower support.
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