Where have we heard this one before?
Jim Beam
China’s military is working on an experimental weapon system that converges multiple streams of microwaves into a powerful energy beam, the South China Morning Post reports.
In other words, it’s not entirely unlike the Death Star from the “Star Wars” franchise, albeit on a much smaller scale.
According to the report, scientists claim they’ve “completed experimental trials on its potential military use.”
However, whether their efforts will ever culminate in a weapon capable enough to destroy a planet like in “Star Wars,” let alone destroy much smaller targets, remains to be seen.
Shooting at Alderaan Places
For one, accumulating sufficient electromagnetic waves in the same location remains incredibly difficult. According to the SCMP, scientists calculated that they needed to achieve a positional accuracy of mere millimeters, and time synchronization of 170 trillionths of a second — more precise than an atomic clock.
Nonenthless, scientists claim to have achieved this level of accuracy during recent experiments. While it won’t be blowing up adversary targets, the researchers found that it could jam signals of US-owned GPS satellites, “achieving multiple goals such as teaching and training, new technology verification, and military exercises.”
The scientists say that combining streams of microwaves could end up with a higher output than the sum of the individual beams.
Unsurprisingly, the researchers remain vague about the future potential uses of the tech.
Meanwhile, the United States has long dabbled in similar tech. For instance, the Air Force has developed a high-power microwave directed energy weapon system called the Tactical High-power Operational Responder, designed to counter drones.
Whether any of these efforts will culminate in a practical weapon is still hazy, though. For now, military powers will have to contend themselves with directed energy weapons that can disrupt electronics and disable communications signals to gain an edge on the battlefield.
More on energy weapons: US Navy Uses Laser Weapon to Destroy “Floating Target”