China is racing to field a new class of high power microwave weapons designed to blind or cripple the satellites that keep modern militaries and economies online. At the center of that effort is a compact pulsed power system that Chinese researchers openly frame as a way to neutralize constellations like Starlink without firing a single missile. I see that push as the clearest signal yet that the next major conflict could begin not with explosions on Earth, but with invisible energy bursts in orbit.
The emerging technology is not just another anti satellite gadget, it is part of a layered strategy that mixes microwaves, lasers, sabotage and even attack satellites to make commercial space networks unreliable in a crisis. For the United States and its allies, which increasingly depend on Elon Musk’s Starlink for battlefield connectivity and civilian resilience, that should be a wake up call.
Inside China’s compact microwave “Starlink killer”
Chinese scientists have unveiled a compact pulse power driver that they say could sit at the heart of a satellite focused microwave weapon, small enough to fit on mobile platforms yet powerful enough to fry sensitive electronics in orbit. Reporting on the device describes it as a new kind of pulsed generator that can deliver intense bursts of energy while remaining significantly smaller than comparable systems, a design that Chinese researchers explicitly link to disabling networks like Starlink. In technical terms, the system is a compact pulse power driver that charges and discharges energy in extremely short, high intensity spikes, the ideal feedstock for a high power microwave antenna.
Follow up analysis notes that this compact pulse power driver could enable high power microwave attacks that are harder to detect and attribute than conventional kinetic strikes, because a beam of energy leaves no debris trail and can be fired from ground sites, aircraft or ships far from the target. The same reporting stresses that the device is designed to be installed in smaller weapons systems, which would let Chinese forces disperse multiple emitters instead of relying on a few large fixed sites, complicating any attempt at preemptive strikes on the infrastructure that supports a potential microwave strike.
From 20GW behemoth to TPG1000Cs: a new family of space weapons
The compact driver is only one piece of a broader Chinese portfolio that now includes what researchers describe as the world’s first 20 gigawatt microwave weapon capable of firing a 60 second burst. According to estimates from some Chinese experts, a ground based microwave weapon with an output over 1GW could severely disrupt or even destroy low orbit communication and observation satellites, so a 20GW system represents a leap into a regime where a single shot could threaten multiple spacecraft at once, especially if paired with precise tracking and beam steering. That system, built at a facility focused on High Power Microwave at NINT, is presented as proof that Chinese engineers can scale from laboratory devices to operationally relevant power levels, a foundation for future space facing weapons.
At the same time, Chinese researchers have introduced a device known as the TPG1000Cs, described as a new cutting edge of microwave weapons made to target satellites, shape a potential fight over Taiwan and test United States and allied space deterrence. Analysts note that China’s newly unveiled TPG1000Cs are framed as part of a family of systems that also includes High Power Laser and Particle Beams, underscoring that Beijing is not betting on a single technology but on a suite of directed energy tools. In technical papers, Researchers led by Wang Gang wrote that the system could deliver as many as 3,000 high energy pulses in a single session and has a design optimized for effective counters to satellite networks, a level of sustained fire that could keep a swath of low Earth orbit under constant electronic assault.
Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology and the 20GW “Starlink killer”
Behind the most dramatic of these systems is the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi province, a research center with deep experience in pulsed power and nuclear related physics. Reporting from Ukraine based outlets notes that the 20 gigawatt system capable of hitting Starlink satellites was developed by the Northwest Institute of Nuclear Technology in Xian, Shaanxi, and that it is explicitly described as a weapon able to disrupt or destroy satellites that support Western militaries. The same coverage points out that the system’s power is likened to the combined output of at least 1,000 nuclear warheads, not because it causes nuclear style blast damage, but to convey the sheer scale of the electromagnetic energy it can project into space in a controlled burst.
Another account of the same project emphasizes that the system was built as a satellite targeting microwave weapon, with Chinese researchers unveiling what is being described as a major step in the country’s focus on counter space technologies. That reporting highlights that the device is part of a broader program in which Chinese researchers have unveiled satellite targeting microwave weapon concepts that can be tuned to damage electronics without physically shattering spacecraft, a feature that could give Beijing plausible deniability if Starlink or other constellations begin to fail in a crisis. The Caspian region focused analysis of this China Unveils Satellite Targeting Microwave Weapon project underscores that Chinese scientists are positioning these tools as a response to what they see as a growing militarization of commercial space by the United States and its partners, especially through Chinese eyes.
Lasers, subs and sabotage: the rest of the anti-Starlink toolkit
Microwaves are only one layer of China’s emerging playbook for dealing with Starlink and similar constellations, and in some ways they may be the most subtle. Chinese government and military scientists have openly discussed using lasers and sabotage to counter Musk’s satellites, arguing that Starlink’s potential use by adversaries in a military confrontation and its growing global footprint make it a strategic threat. In one set of papers, Chinese government and military scientists describe Starlink as a dual use system that could enhance United States military power, and they outline options ranging from dazzling satellites with ground based lasers to interfering with the company’s sprawling supply chain, which they note includes more than Chinese suppliers.
Engineers from the People’s Liberation Army, in another 2023 paper, suggested creating a fleet of satellites to tail Starlink satellites and interfere with their solar panels, a concept that would effectively weaponize proximity operations in orbit. Those Engineers from the People Liberation Army frame their proposal as a way to gradually degrade Starlink’s performance without triggering the kind of debris cloud associated with kinetic anti satellite tests, a lesson Beijing appears to have absorbed since the infamous 2007 Anti satellite missile test that littered orbit with long lived fragments and fueled fears of a Kessler syndrome. In parallel, Chinese strategists have floated ideas for laser shooting submarines that could fire beams through the atmosphere at passing satellites, with one summary noting that China wants laser shooting subs as part of a broader set of Satellite countermeasures because it views Starlink as a military threat and is openly exploring aggressive countermeasures at sea as well as on land, a concept echoed in separate coverage of Satellite focused plans.
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*This article was researched with the help of AI, with human editors creating the final content.
