China microwave weapons can destroy US Satellites

Chinese scientists have developed a microwave weapon device that could be deployed to target and burn US satellites

by Gabriel Honrada March 17, 2022

In a space shot across America’s bow, Chinese scientists have reportedly developed an ultra-high powered microwave device that can potentially jam satellite communications or damage sensitive satellite electronics.

The device, known as the Relativistic Klystron Amplifier (RKA), is a high-power microwave (HPM) source that is widely used in high-power radars, new accelerators and new communication systems because of its advantages in high-power, high-efficiency, stable-phase and stable-amplitude of output power.

According to Sichuan-based Chinese researchers, the device could generate a 5-megawatt short pulse in the Ka-band, a satellite frequency increasingly used by businesses and the military.

Ka-band systems are especially useful for military applications since they are built with smaller, steerable beams for high-capacity density, which adds some enhanced jam resistance for platforms while supporting significant uplink data rates for programs such as military intelligence, surveillance, reconnaissance and other data-rich applications.

Previous Chinese RKA prototypes only achieved a few hundred kilowatts of power in the Ka-band, but a substantial redesign by Chinese researchers allowed it to generate 501 megawatts in an experiment, with computer modeling suggesting even more room for improvement.

This gives the device the potential to be a high-power anti-satellite microwave weapon, generating 100 times more energy than most communication devices.