China to Unveil 'World’s Most Powerful Laser Air Defense'

It did not look like much during rehearsals: an unidentified weapons system covered in a green tarpaulin and mounted on an eight-wheeler truck.

But when the protective cover is removed on Wednesday during the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) parade through Beijing, “the most powerful laser air defence system in the world” will be revealed, according to propagandists for the Chinese military.

The laser will form part of a cavalcade of hi-tech weaponry designed to project the PLA as an advanced, integrated military capable of matching – or even outmatching – the United States.

Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-Un and Masoud Pezeshkian, Iran’s president, are expected to watch alongside Xi Jinping as the product of decades of extraordinary investment rolls through Beijing’s Tiananmen Square.

In scale, precision and ceremony, the parade marking 80 years since Japan’s surrender in the Second World War will surpass those that trundled earlier this year through Moscow and Washington – the two other biggest military spenders in the world.

And it will be watched closely by Pentagon analysts eager to glean anything they can about the weapons the US might encounter should Mr Xi order an invasion of Taiwan, something possible as early as 2027 according to US intelligence.

Photographs from rehearsals appear to show four new anti-ship missiles in the “YJ” or “eagle attack” class – all of which could be sent to sink any American or British warships that intervene.

US analysts will be watching for “technical indicators” to judge whether the weapons on display look “real” or like “bulls---”, said Rob Peters, senior research fellow at the Heritage Foundation, a Washington-based think tank.

“Whenever [China] shows new exquisite technologies ... it’s good to remember that [for all its evident progress] we should be a little bit cautious that they’ve got the best stuff or they know how to use it,” he added.

The PLA has not been tested in combat since 1979, when it suffered heavy casualties during an invasion of north Vietnam.

Nevertheless, this year’s parade comes just months after Pakistan used Chinese-made weapons, the J-10 fighter jet and PL-15 missile, to shoot down a French-made Rafale in the Indian air force, marking the first combat “kill” of a Western defence platform by PLA technology.

Chinese drone technology has also proven its mettle on the battlefield in Ukraine, both in the cheap, short-range Mavics used by both sides and the longer-range suicide drones employed by Putin’s army.

Beijing’s last two military parades underline shifting trends in defence procurement. In 2015, the PLA focused largely on strategic missiles able to hit the US mainland. In 2019, drones were the star of the show, with the GJ-11 attack drone unveiled for the first time.

There is speculation that Beijing might this year unveil its stealthy successor, the GJ-11 Sharp Sword, which is slated to operate as a so-called “loyal wingman” to piloted aircraft – flying alongside in combat missions.

The much-hyped display of laser weaponry reflects their growing importance in the eyes of militaries across the world.

With the arrival of low-cost drones, air defence systems reliant on £1.5m missiles have become a drain on resources – a mis-match most glaringly revealed in the US navy’s battles with Houthi militants in the Red Sea.

Although costly in themselves, high-energy laser weapons possess a so-called “infinite magazine”, which can take down drones for as little as £10 a shot.

Israel became the first country to demonstrate a successful combat intercept when its Lite-Beam and Iron-Beam systems shot down Hezbollah drones in October last year.

In trials earlier this year, the Royal Navy’s Dragonfire system is said to have shot down 30 drones in 300 shots. The Ministry of Defence plans to equip four destroyers with the £120m weapons by 2027.

Admiral Daryl Caudle, who was confirmed as Donald Trump’s chief naval officer last week, studied directed energy weapons for his master’s degree in the early 1990s.

“If confirmed, I will make [them] a priority”, Adml Caudle told senators during his confirmation hearing. “I’ve not seen the navy do an adequate amount of effort translating the research and development into shipboard use.”

Sceptics often joke that “lasers are X years in the future – and always will be”. The weapons require large amounts of power, and can be disrupted by smoke, dust, fog or heat.

US military procurement has been hit by notable setbacks within the past 12 months.

The army is considering cancelling plans to mount 50kw lasers on top of Stryker infantry fighting vehicles after disappointing tests in Iraq.

The 60kw laser attached to the USS Preble in 2022 is reportedly only operating at a third of its intended power and has never been shown to work in combat.

Meanwhile, the US air force gave up entirely on its plans to mount a laser capable of intercepting cruise missiles on a tactical fighter jet. There were never even any airborne tests.

But the overall direction of travel is clear, says Jared Keller, author of the Laser Wars newsletter on Substack.

“I think we’re coming to a tipping point where not only has technology become better, but so have some of the supporting factors, like power sources.”

Several firms – and the US defence department itself – are verging on the production of mobile generators which would allow lasers to effectively “shoot-and-move”.

The Chinese system set to roll through Beijing is speculated to be a 10kw OW5-A10, a truck-mounted laser reportedly able to intercept drone swarms.

First seen on the streets in June, it is one of a litany of Chinese systems that includes the Silent Hunter, used by Russian special forces to shoot down Ukrainian drones in May, according to footage that circulated on social media.

“In terms of speed of development, [China] is definitely outpacing the US,” said Keller. “But while the Chinese industrial base keeps rolling out these systems, and they get unveiled at armed shows, [there is little] visual evidence of these things in operation.”

In the 1980s, there was talk of a “laser gap” between the Soviet Union and the US, which prompted the first surge in research and development.

But the world’s major militaries are all “probably within a ballpark of one another” in terms of deploying laser weapons on the battlefield, says Sidharth Kaushal, a research fellow at the Royal United Services Institute, a London-based think tank.

China may boast about unique capabilities but “I don’t expect the first country to be years ahead of the second and the third … the pack will probably break through more or less in tandem”.

“I’d be surprised if [America’s recent setbacks] prove anything other than transient,” Kaushal added.

The world’s foremost militaries are a long way from producing their version of the Martian death ray, which decimated Royal Navy vessels in HG Wells’s The War of the Worlds (1898). It would require megawatts of power to sink a battleship – a chunk of an entire plant’s production – and today’s lasers struggle to produce more than 100kw.

But the days when beams of directed energy zap drones out of the sky – cheaply and rapidly – are soon to move out of the realms of fantasy.