{"id":324251,"date":"2026-02-07T00:01:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/324251\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T00:01:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T00:01:10","slug":"china-develops-compact-microwave-driver-that-could-power-a-starlink-killer-weapon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/324251\/","title":{"rendered":"China develops compact microwave driver that could power a \u2018Starlink-killer\u2019 weapon"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Published on
\n 06\/02\/2026 – 17:13 GMT+1\n <\/p>\n

China has developed a new piece of military technology that could one day be used to disrupt satellite networks such as Starlink, according to a study<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Researchers at the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology (NINT), a research facility linked to the Chinese military in Xi\u2019an, say they have built the world\u2019s smallest driver for a high-power microwave (HPM) weapon, a system that could potentially be used to disrupt satellite networks such as Starlink.<\/p>\n

The device, known as TPG1000Cs, measures about four metres long and weighs roughly five tons, making it significantly smaller than comparable systems.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe system has demonstrated stable operation over continuous one-minute durations, accumulating approximately 200,000 pulses with consistent performance,\u201d the study said.<\/p>\n

Until now, similar known systems could only operate continuously for no more than just a few seconds and were far bulkier, making them difficult to install in smaller weapons systems.<\/p>\n

The TPG1000Cs system can generate electrical pulses reaching 20 gigawatts, according to the study. This far exceeds the roughly 1 gigawatt output that experts say a ground-based microwave weapon would need to potentially disrupt low-Earth-orbit satellite networks such as Starlink.<\/p>\n

How does it work?<\/p>\n

The United States, Russia, and China have all been exploring whether high-power microwave technology could be developed into weapons capable of disrupting satellites.<\/p>\n

Destroying satellites using conventional weapons can create large clouds of orbital debris that may threaten other spacecraft, including those belonging to the attacking country.<\/p>\n

Microwave weapons, in contrast, could theoretically disable electronics without creating significant debris, potentially offering strategic advantages and a degree of plausible deniability.<\/p>\n

These weapons store electrical energy and then release it in a sudden, powerful burst. This pulse can produce intense microwave radiation that can disrupt electronics.<\/p>\n

Starlink satellite communications have been used to support Ukraine\u2019s communications infrastructure during Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine<\/a>, thanks to demonstrated resilience against jamming attempts.<\/p>\n

The study was published in the Chinese journal High Power Laser and Particle Beams on January 13.<\/p>\n

China has published a number of studies in recent years discussing the need to develop ways to disrupt large satellite constellations, including Elon Musk\u2019s Starlink network.<\/p>\n

Researchers say the breakthrough was made possible by a special liquid insulating material called Midel 7131.<\/p>\n

\u201cBy adopting a high-energy-density liquid dielectric Midel 7131 and a dual-width pulse-forming line, the study achieved miniaturisation of an integrated Tesla transformer and pulse-forming system,\u201d scientists wrote in the study.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on 06\/02\/2026 – 17:13 GMT+1 China has developed a new piece of military technology that could one…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":324252,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[270],"tags":[381,18,19,17,133,451,4425,82,156049,819],"class_list":["post-324251","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-space","tag-china","tag-eire","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science","tag-space","tag-starlink","tag-technology","tag-war-threat","tag-weapons"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116026414604752251","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324251","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324251"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324251\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324251"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324251"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324251"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}