China touts new microwave weapon that ‘can destroy drone swarm from 3km away’

Chinese military hardware is under intensified scrutiny this week after its radar systems failed to warn Venezuela of impending US attack

China claims its new microwave weapon is more powerful than its US equivalent and capable of shooting down drone swarms from 3km away.

The announcement comes at a time of reputational damage for Beijing, after Chinese-made radar systems supplied to Venezuela were reported to have failed to provide early warning of the American raid on Caracas on 3 January that led to the capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro.

China had publicly condemned the intervention as a “clear violation of international law”, confronting Washington at the United Nations over the move’s legality.

The developer of the Hurricane 3000 high-power microwave weapon recently said in an interview that the truck-mounted system can disable drones and drone swarms at ranges beyond 3km, which he claimed was longer than comparable US systems.

High-power microwave weapons offer a low-cost, low-collateral alternative to missiles and guns, with an almost unlimited firing capacity, and unlike lasers, they can cover a wide area, allowing “sweep-and-kill” attacks that are especially effective against drone swarms.

Shown publicly at China’s September military parade, the weapon is designed to move beyond short-range point defence to wider area denial, either operating independently or networked with lasers and conventional artillery in a layered anti-drone defence setup, according to Yu Jianjun, an expert from China North Industries Group Corporation (Norinco).

In an interview published on Sunday by Shanghai-based news site Guancha, Mr Yu said the weapons have moved from experimental capability to field deployment, following their public appearances at the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow and China’s 3 September 2025 military parade.

The two systems developed by Norinco are the Hurricane 2000, a vehicle-mounted microwave weapon designed to intercept small drones within a range of up to 2km, and the more advanced Hurricane 3000, which he said can engage small unmanned aerial vehicles and drone swarms at distances exceeding three kilometres.

According to Mr Yu, the Hurricane 3000 integrates detection, tracking, and strike functions into a single mobile platform and features improved automation and sustained combat capability. He said the system can operate independently or be networked with laser, missile and artillery units to form a layered terminal air-defence configuration for border, coastal and urban security missions.

“The Hurricane 3000 represents a comprehensive upgrade in combat performance compared to the Hurricane 2000. Its interception range against small and light unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and UAV swarms exceeds 3km, placing it at the forefront of similar equipment both domestically and internationally. Furthermore, its detection, tracking, and sustained combat capabilities, as well as its fully automated combat capabilities, have all been significantly improved,” he told the Chinese military media outlet.

The US, on the other hand, has a high-power microwave anti-drone system called Leonidas, developed by the startup Epirus, which is widely reported to have a range of around 2km.

Mr Yu said the system works by using radar to detect moving targets before handing tracking to optoelectronic sensors, which guide a high-power microwave antenna to disable targets by emitting focused electromagnetic energy. While different manufacturers’ microwave weapons may vary in appearance, he said the underlying principles are broadly similar.

Addressing comparisons with traditional air-defence weapons, Mr Yu said microwave weapons are not intended to replace missiles or artillery but to complement them.

“Missiles, artillery, microwave weapons, and laser weapons each have their strengths in terminal defence and complement each other. Missiles and artillery retain their core advantages of high precision, long range, and wide target adaptability,” he said in the interview.

“Meanwhile, microwaves offer advantages such as strong anti-saturation attack capabilities and high cost-effectiveness. Therefore, in air defence operations, the strengths of each method should complement each other, rather than relying on a single method to achieve all objectives,” he added.

Mr Yu acknowledged that the development of microwave weapons posed significant engineering challenges.

Mr Yu claimed China plans to further integrate microwave weapons into operational units, expanding their role beyond drone defence to include disrupting electronic reconnaissance, information networks and precision-guided weapons.

Venezuela possesses the China-made JY-27 radars, whose capabilities have been called into question after they reportedly failed to alert Caracas as US jets entered Venezuelan airspace.

China is also the biggest buyer of Venezuelan crude, which accounts for roughly 4 per cent of its imports.