China has unveiled its new “Hurricane 3000” high-power microwave (HPM) weapon system, developed to counter the increasingly growing threat of drone swarms on the modern battlefield. Developed by Norinco, the system can neutralize drone swarms within seconds with its effective range of 3 kilometers.
According to information reported by the South China Morning Post (SCMP), Chinese defense giant Norinco has shared new technical details about the truck-mounted mobile HPM system Hurricane 3000. Integrated onto a Shaanxi SX2306 8×8 chassis, the system is specifically designed to protect critical infrastructure and to counter “saturation attacks.”
Electromagnetic Shield Against the Swarm Threat
Hurricane 3000 operates by emitting intense electromagnetic pulses (EMP) through a large planar array antenna it carries. Unlike traditional kinetic defense systems, this technology does not physically destroy targets; instead, it disables systems completely by disrupting the sensitive electronic circuits of UAVs with high-energy microwaves.
Technical Capability and Range
The system features a layered target detection and neutralization architecture:
Operational Advantage: Norinco officials emphasize that the system has a wider area of effect than similar U.S.-origin solutions (such as Leonidas) and offers unlimited firing capability without ammunition costs.
Detection and Tracking: Equipped with a fire-control radar capable of detecting small-class UAVs from a distance of 6 km, the system begins precise tracking from 4 km onward thanks to its electro-optical sensors.
Neutralization Range: The effective engagement range of the microwave weapon has been announced as 3 km.
Layered Defense and Hybrid Structure
Processing radar and sensor data autonomously, Hurricane 3000 can operate independently or fully integrated with laser weapons and conventional air defense missiles. This integration allows the system to employ both “soft-kill” (microwave) and “hard-kill” (missile/gun) capabilities simultaneously.
Norinco expert Yu Jianjun stated that the system holds a leading position among similar systems due to its effective range and its speed in neutralizing drone swarms en masse.
Source: C4Defence / South China Morning Post
