Jakarta –
China is developing military technology that could one day be used to disrupt satellite networks like Starlink. Researchers at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT), a Chinese military-linked research facility in Xi’an, say they have built the world’s smallest drive for a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon.
The device, known as the TPG1000Cs, is about four meters long and weighs about five tonnes, making it much smaller than similar systems. “The system has demonstrated stable operation for one continuous minute, accumulating approximately 200,000 pulses with consistent performance,” the study said.
Until now, known similar systems could only operate continuously for no more than a few seconds and were much larger in size, making them difficult to install on smaller weapons systems.
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The TPG1000Cs system can produce electrical pulses reaching 20 gigawatts. This amount far exceeds the output of about 1 gigawatt that experts say would be needed for a ground-based microwave weapon to potentially disrupt a network of low-Earth-orbit satellites like Starlink.
How does it work?
Quoted detikINET from Euro News, the United States, Russia and China are all exploring whether high-power microwave technology could be developed into a weapon to disrupt satellites.
Destroying a satellite using conventional weapons could create a large cloud of orbital debris that could threaten other spacecraft, including the attacking nation’s own.
Well, microwave weapons could theoretically disable electronic devices without creating significant debris. This offers strategic advantages and the ability to deny involvement due to lack of physical evidence.
These weapons store electrical energy and then release it in a sudden and powerful explosion. These pulses can produce intense microwave radiation that can disrupt electronic function. The study was published in the Chinese journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams.
China has published a number of studies in recent years discussing the need to develop ways to disrupt large satellite constellations, including Elon Musk’s Starlink network. Researchers say this breakthrough was made possible by a special liquid insulating material called Midel 7131.
“By adopting Midel 7131 high energy density liquid dielectric and a double-wide pulse shaping path, this study achieved miniaturization of the integrated Tesla transformer and pulse shaping system,” the scientists wrote.
(fyk/fay)
date:2026-02-11 05:45:00