China unveiled a hard and soft drone defeat system at the Zhuhai Airshow. According to SCMP, China's determination to adapt to drone warfare was demonstrated this week at its major arms show, where it unveiled a comprehensive drone defense system.

Developer China Aerospace Science & Industry Corporation (Casic) said the anti-drone warfare (UAV) system was inspired by recent global conflicts, including war.

The system has a full skill set of "detection, reconnaissance, interference, control, interception and assessment" all types of UAVs. It provides a "comprehensive solution” to the key difficulties of countering the devices – usually that they are “too difficult to detect, too small to intercept and too costly to use air defence weapons."

“The anti-UAV system … can effectively achieve the efficient and coordinated use of multiple types of detection equipment and interception weapons … and forms a comprehensive defence capability against all types of UAV targets ‘both near and far, high and low, with both hard and soft kill’,” the developer said.

“Hard kill” refers to physical attacks on enemy drones, while a “soft kill" is achieved by damaging their electronics or deploying blinding sensors, to which small drones are highly vulnerable.

Casic's early warning system for defense against UAVs includes the DK-1 low-altitude radar and electro-optical radar designed to find and track low-flying drones as well as their ground-based missile launchers.

The ZK-K20 Tactical Command System can operate medium- and long-range air defense assets to intercept large combat drones, as well as perform short-range countermeasures against medium, small or mini-drones, including drone swarms.

The intercept range includes a number of equipment options, including the HK-17AE short-range missile system, but most notable is the all-new FK-3000 platform, which has an off-road base that is an improvement over the previous version that can fire both anti-aircraft guns and missiles while traveling at 40 km/h.