Not only buying a few anti-drone systems to test the water temperature, the Chinese military plans to spend 18.8 billion to build a thousand systems

The procurement of anti-drone equipment by the national army is moving from small-scale introduction and verification by actual troops to large-scale construction. According to comprehensive public information, in addition to the Marine Corps' plan to purchase two sets of 30mm anti-drone gun turrets next year, the military police also allocated 21.89 million yuan to purchase 25 sets of small arms fire control systems. The army also plans to invest nearly 18.8 billion yuan from 2027 to 2029 to purchase 1,114 sets of anti-drone systems to strengthen the national army's integrated soft and hard-kill defense capabilities.

Compared with the "soft kill" method in the past, which mainly used electronic jamming to cut off drone communications and navigation signals, the Chinese military has gradually introduced "hard kill" equipment in recent years that uses firearms, machine guns and other firepower to directly destroy targets, and has even studied the potential of using laser weapons to shoot down drones. Among them, the light weapons fire control system purchased by the military police can be used with active rifles to improve the hit rate of officers and soldiers when shooting small and medium-sized mobile drones through photoelectric sensing, target tracking and fire control auxiliary functions. It is suitable for use in the protection of garrison areas and important facilities.

The Chinese Academy of Sciences has launched a laser anti-drone system, which has great potential for practical application in the future. (Extracted from the video of the Chinese Academy of Sciences)

Among them, the Military Police Command publicly invited bids for 25 sets of "small arms fire control systems" in April this year. It plans to invest 21.89 million yuan in the procurement project. It can be used with M4, AR-15, SR-25 and other rifles. Through target tracking, ballistic correction and fire control auxiliary functions, it can improve the hit rate of officers and soldiers when shooting small drones, and strengthen the protection capabilities of garrison areas and important facilities.

It is worth noting that this procurement of the military police adopts a small-scale, off-the-shelf approach, hoping to give priority to the introduction of mature private technologies, so that the troops can verify them in actual operations, and then evaluate subsequent applications. However, the bidding process in this case was not smooth sailing. According to public information on government procurement, this bidding failed to successfully complete the procurement three times on May 6, July 30, and August 13 this year due to failure or failure. The military announced the bidding again on August 14, and the bidding is scheduled to open on August 19. As of now, it is not possible to confirm that the bid has been awarded, and the actual delivery progress remains to be clarified.

The Marine Corps also plans to spend 93.12 million yuan next year to purchase two sets of 30 mm anti-drone automated gun turrets that integrate radar, electro-optical tracking and fire control systems, which can directly destroy drones at close range. It also reserves 100 million yuan for subsequent expansion, and can purchase special ammunition and fully automatic countermeasures systems in the future. The whole case is still in the public viewing stage. If there are no unexpected events, the project will be launched to attract investment in the future.

The National Army will also implement a larger-scale construction plan. According to the Ministry of National Defense's public budget for next year, the Army plans to purchase 1,114 sets of "Ground Forces UAV Countermeasure Systems" from 2027 to 2029. The protection scope covers ground forces, naval ships, air defense positions, garrison areas and important infrastructure. It mainly targets Class I and II UAV threats and is matched with existing air defense systems.

It is worth noting that these 1,114 sets do not all use hard-kill weapons such as machine guns, but combine different technologies such as detection, electronic interference and physical interception. From the military police's small introduction of smart fire control, the Marine Corps' planning and procurement of 30mm gun turrets, to the army's promotion of thousands of countermeasure systems, it shows that the national army is gradually establishing a multi-layered anti-drone defense system covering individual soldiers, troops and important facilities.