Laser, Microwave, and Artillery Combined: A Look at Our Military's Impressive Performance of the Anti-Drone "Iron Triangle"

Recently, a certain brigade of the Army's 75th Group Army conducted a long-distance maneuver to the desert Gobi, carrying out multi-subject, cross-day-and-night live-fire tactical exercises, comprehensively honing the troops' rapid response, fire strike, and continuous combat capabilities, solidifying the practical foundation for air defense against enemies.

Upon receiving the maneuver order, various air defense units quickly assembled and rushed to the designated combat area. After arriving at the position, radar detected a swarm of drones launching a low-altitude, concentrated assault on the position.

The anti-drone unit quickly organized a counterattack, with ground lasers and microwaves operating in sync to implement electro-optical blinding and spectrum suppression on the swarm targets, disrupting the swarm's assault formation; for the few remaining targets that breached defenses, combat drones quickly took to the air to carry out precise strikes; finally, the anti-aircraft unit conducted concentrated interception fire to eliminate the remaining swarm targets.

Brigade Commander Jia Jingcheng: This exercise closely focused on practical combat challenges, based on the coordinated use of multiple types of air defense equipment, specifically honing core capabilities such as complex air situation assessment, emergency response, and multi-means coordinated strikes, effectively addressing practical shortcomings and refining the soldiers' emergency response and precise air control skills.

Just after the first round of counterattacks ended, the control group issued an order to expose the position, prompting the soldiers to quickly retract equipment and maneuver to a new location, rapidly completing the equipment setup, firepower organization, and concealment at the new position, restoring air defense capabilities. Meanwhile, the radar network was activated to establish a reconnaissance and early warning network with full coverage and real-time tracking.

Each combat unit quickly organized a counterattack, successfully destroying the breaching targets. The exercise continued from day into deep night, with each combat unit switching to nighttime combat mode, and radar, electro-optical, and infrared detection equipment continuously searching the airspace.

Brigade Commander He Qing: This exercise was based on different battlefield environments during day and night, continuously conducting practical topics such as multi-type air situation counterattacks, battlefield maneuvers, and emergency response, honing the troops in unfamiliar and complex Gobi environments, steadily improving the troops' rapid response, maneuvering counterattacks, and sustained readiness in practical combat.

Our military's "Iron Triangle" for countering drones

In our military's new domain and new quality equipment, laser weapons, gun-missile combined weapons, and high-power microwave weapons are referred to as the "Iron Triangle" of anti-drone equipment.

The Iron Triangle consists of three treasures. First, let's look at this "blade of light"—the laser weapon. It damages airborne drones by emitting high-energy beams. In combat, it produces no explosion sound, no fire, and no recoil; it reaches its target instantly, hitting precisely where aimed, with an extremely low cost per use. It is a new type of weapon that can be fired almost infinitely as long as there is sufficient power supply.

Next is this muscular-looking equipment, which features a six-barrel rotary cannon at its center and four short-range air defense missile launchers mounted on the sides; this is the other corner of the "Iron Triangle"—the gun-missile combined weapon.

It integrates the dense barrage of the rotary cannon with the precise strikes of short-range missiles, serving as the hard-core strength of the anti-drone system for "kinetic interception and end-phase coverage." It boasts advantages such as fast response speed, powerful interception firepower, high shooting accuracy, and good mobility, capable of independent operation or integration into a networked joint air defense system. In recent diversified practical training, as a "blade" in terminal defense, it has effectively reduced the threat posed by low, slow, small targets.

The last corner of the "Iron Triangle" is the high-power microwave weapon, which is the tallest among the three anti-drone equipment. Its towering panel is integrated with the vehicle, and it is equipped with a detection radar at the back. It uses an 8×8 high-mobility chassis to instantly release microwave pulses, incapacitating drones by damaging their internal electronic components, causing them to crash. Unlike lasers, which are "point-to-point," it focuses on large-area "area damage," capable of delivering anti-saturation damage to swarms of drones in a single attack, making it a killer tool against "swarm" threats.

From the close-range hard kill of gun-missile combinations to the soft and hard capabilities of lasers and microwaves—the "Iron Triangle" weaves a low-altitude anti-drone net with "projectiles, cannons, light, electricity, and waves." It supports and integrates with detection methods such as radar, electro-optical, and electronic reconnaissance, fitting into a layered defense system of "long-range early warning detection, mid-layer electronic suppression, and close-range kinetic interception," becoming a new type of combat capability for our military to respond to intelligent warfare and safeguard low-altitude security.

Expert Analysis: Understanding the Offensive and Defensive Game of Drones on the Battlefield

In fact, drone warfare has already become a new focus of high importance for militaries around the world. So, what changes have drones brought to modern warfare?

In recent years' localized armed conflicts, drones, especially suicide drones, have been widely used, posing significant threats and damage to the opponent's important high-value military targets and infrastructure.

In addition to suicide drones, various countries have also widely used reconnaissance-strike integrated drones and highly stealthy reconnaissance drones, making it clear that drones have become an important combat force in modern warfare.

Military commentator Zhang Xuefeng stated that the widely used suicide drones currently have three low characteristics:

The first is a low development threshold; some drones can be considered large model aircraft, using propeller power systems and simple guidance systems, with some modified from commercial drones. Therefore, not only can major powers develop them, but small countries and armed entities with limited technological capabilities can also develop and acquire them, leading to a trend of proliferation for such drones.

Secondly, they are relatively low-cost. A typical 200-kilogram suicide drone costs only a few tens of thousands of dollars, while smaller multi-rotor drones can cost only a few thousand dollars. Low costs mean they can be purchased and used in large quantities. For example, in the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the launch volume for both sides can exceed a thousand units in a single day and night, making such swarm attacks more difficult to intercept.

Thirdly, from a flight characteristic perspective, they typically fly at low altitudes, and their small size results in a small radar cross-section, increasing the difficulty of interception.

Despite the low technical threshold and low cost of these drones, effectively preventing them will significantly increase the pressure on the defending side.

Zhang Xuefeng: In the face of drones, traditional air defense systems have encountered many problems, such as difficulty in detection, high interception costs, and inability to defend effectively. This is because traditional air defense systems primarily target enemy fighter jets, cruise missiles, and ballistic missiles, while these small drones are typical low, slow, small targets. Ground protection systems are limited by terrain and obstacles, and the curvature of the Earth affects the detection range for such low, slow, small targets, making it difficult to achieve full airspace coverage.

Zhang Xuefeng explained that, internationally, the cost per use of traditional air defense systems is relatively high; long-range air defense missiles cost millions of dollars each, while short-range air defense missiles also cost tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands of dollars, resulting in a very low cost-effectiveness ratio for interception. The key issue is that the production capacity of such missiles is limited, and using them all for interception will quickly deplete their stock. Additionally, suicide drones have only recently been introduced on a large scale to the battlefield, and targeted new interception methods have not been fully utilized.

Therefore, in recent localized armed conflicts, when facing swarm and saturation attacks from enemy drones, even if a majority of drones can be intercepted, a certain number will inevitably breach defenses, causing significant losses to the defending side.

Expert Analysis: How to Counter and Control Drones Has Become a New Topic for Countries Worldwide

Since traditional air defense systems face numerous challenges in dealing with small suicide drones, how can this situation be resolved? Exploring efficient means to counter drones has become a new topic for militaries around the world.

Zhang Xuefeng: Countering these low-cost suicide drones has become a new topic for many countries and militaries, and some relatively new solutions have indeed been proposed. For example, combat drones, also referred to as interception drones abroad, can be considered as air defense cruise missiles; these munitions cost far less than several hundred-kilogram suicide drones but can effectively intercept them, providing a high cost-effectiveness ratio for interception.

Currently, such interception drones are widely used on the Russia-Ukraine battlefield, and there are even developments underway for jet-powered interception drones, with the types of interception targets continuously expanding.

Additionally, using directed energy weapons, including laser and microwave weapons, is another approach; both types of weapons share the characteristic of having relatively low costs per use. Laser weapons can disrupt and also precisely strike incoming targets. Microwave weapons have a larger coverage area and can respond to swarm attacks.

In addition to focusing on hard kills, electronic interference can also be employed to suppress the satellite navigation signals of drones, disrupting their control channels. By comprehensively utilizing traditional defense systems and new interception methods, the probability of intercepting drones can be significantly increased while greatly reducing interception costs.

Various soft and hard kill methods enrich the options for countering drones, but achieving effective interception requires the primary condition of being able to detect targets in a timely manner.

Zhang Xuefeng: To solve the interception problem, the first step is to address the visibility issue. This can be achieved by comprehensively utilizing radar, electro-optical, infrared, and acoustic detection systems, and employing distributed systems to significantly enhance the detection range and effectiveness for drones.

At the same time, using early warning drones can improve detection ranges for low-altitude drones, while fighter jets and armed helicopters also have unique advantages in intercepting drones. We already possess a rich array of detection and interception methods, and conducting continuous day-and-night counterattack training in complex environments will help us win future anti-drone wars.