High Microwave-Powered (HPM) C-UAS for Pakistan: Is It Worth the Investment? – Quwa

In 2024, the Pakistan Air Drive (PAF) had laid out plans to obtain high-powered microwave (HPM) counter-unmanned aerial system (C-UAS) options, indicating that it was taking the looming risk of swarming drones critically. Whereas these actual threats didn’t emerge from Pakistan’s latest battle with India, the intensive use of drones, notably loitering munitions, from each side underlined that at some point – maybe before later – drone swarms can be a fixture of future preventing between South Asia’s nuclear-armed neighbours.

Whereas its efforts preceded the temporary, however intense, battle in Might 2025, the PAF was already at work organising the foundations of its future air defence posture, which might embody a large stock of methods spanning from long-range surface-to-air missiles (SAM) to short-range anti-air weapons (AAG), and inside that blend, HPMs.

The home trade can be contributing in the direction of this structure, with a number of initiatives on scaling the sensor/situational consciousness entrance. The Nationwide Radio & Telecommunication Company (NRTC), for instance, developed the AM-350S, an S-band lively electronically scanned array (AESA) long-range surveillance radar, whereas the PAF’s in-house Nationwide Aerospace & Scientific Know-how Park (NASTP) revealed the SR-3D, a short-range gap-filler radar. 

Finally, radars (and different sensors) like these can be paired with hard-kill and soft-kill C-UAS options, with HPMs piecing into the broader image with the aim of neutralizing drone swarms, which can leverage overwhelming mass to saturate typical air defences. On this backdrop, HPMs provide a cost-effective technique to take care of that mass, saving the PAF pricey AAG ammunition and SAM missiles in coping with in any other case extremely low-priced threats. 

It’ll even be fascinating to see how Pakistan approaches HPM (and different directed vitality weapons). On the one hand, there may be definitely a significant alternative for overseas trade gamers as they will provision their designs for testing and adopting shortly. But, however, there may be additionally the truth that Pakistan desires to supply its C-UAS methods regionally, with entities just like the Defence Science and Know-how Group (DESTO) taking part in a number one function right now.