A Survey of Chinese Military Laser Weapons (That We Know Of)
An open-source rundown of China’s high-energy laser weapon efforts.
In December 1963, Mao Zedong delivered a simple directive to the Chinese government’s top scientist: build me a death ray.
“Organize a group of people to specifically study it,” Mao told Marshal Nie Rongzhen, chairman of China’s State Science and Technology Commission, according to a 2017 history of Chinese weapons development by the US government’s independent US-China Economic and Security Review Commission. “Have a small group of people specializing in it who do not eat dinner or do other things. In addition to offensive weapons potential, study defensive uses … war has always had offensive and defensive aspects.”
China’s directed energy weapon ambitions have come a long way in the intervening decades. The People’s Liberation Army (PLA) now appears to possess a slew of high-energy laser weapons designed to do everything from burn drones out of the sky to blind satellites in orbit – systems that don’t just adorn Chinese tactical vehicles and warships, but are in the service of allies like Russia, Iran, and Saudi Arabia.
Given the secrecy surrounding the Chinese military’s advanced weapons development, the exact number and types of laser weapons at the PLA’s disposal – let alone details regarding their power output, range, and operational employment – remain unclear. But in recent years, open-source intelligence gleaned from social media and static displays at global military and defense expositions have provided useful insights into Chinese military-industrial complex’s growing laser arsenal.
To that end, here’s a rundown of publicly-known Chinese military high-energy laser weapon systems.
‘Silent Hunter’
Developed by Chinese state-owned arms company Poly Technologies and first unveiled at a 2016 military expo in South Africa, the 30 kilowatt 'Silent Hunter’ laser weapon is an improved version of the earlier 30 kilowatt Low-Altitude Laser Defending System (LASS), designed to neutralize incoming drones at ranges of up to 4 kilometers. The LASS itself was based on an earlier 10 kw Low Altitude Guard laser weapon system unveiled in 2014 by the China Academy of Engineering Physics and state-owned Jiuyuan Hi-Tech Equipment Corp.
While it’s unclear if Silent Hunter has entered active service alongside PLA troops, Saudi Arabia’s Ministry of Defense procured and deployed at least one system in 2022 to protect against hostile drones launched by Iran-backed Houthi militants in Yemen, with the MoD claiming in 2023 that the system had succeeded in downing several such systems during combat. By May 2025, footage circulating on social media appeared to show the Russian military operating a Silent Hunter turret in an undisclosed location, suggesting that the system may have earned the title of the world’s first globally proliferated laser weapon.
Shen Nung 3000/5000
Operating in the 10 to 20 kw power range and available in containerized and 4×4 vehicle-mounted versions, the Shen Nung 3000/5000 laser weapon first appeared on social media in 2021 mounted on a Dongfeng Mengshi EQ2050 light tactical vehicle. According to Army Recognition, the system is capable of both “dazzling” and blinding drone optics at ranges of more than 3 km and outright destroying airborne systems at ranges of up to 1.5 km. More recently, a Shen Nung turret showed up in Iran in October 2024 to protect the airspace over the capital of Tehran as part of security measures for a public sermon by Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
LW-30/LW-60
State-owned China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation (CASIC) debuted the 30 kw LW-30 vehicle-mounted laser weapon with a stated range of 25 kilometers in 2018, followed by a 60 kw LW-60 variant in 2022. The operational status of these systems remains unclear, although both were recently displayed at the Zhuhai Airshow in November 2024.
OW5-A family of laser weapons
First unveiled by state-owned defense corporation China North Industries Group Corporation (NORINCO) at the Airshow China defense expo in 2022, the OW5-A family of laser weapons consists of 10 kw, 30 kw, and 50 kw variants mounted on a 6x6 heavy trucks for point defense against "low, slow, and small" threats, according to Army Recognition. In June 2025, a sleek version of the 10 kw OW5-A10 system was reportedly spotted mounted on a Dongfeng Mengshi tactical truck on a highway in China.
‘Light Arrow’/’Sky Shield’ family of laser weapons
State-owned Aviation Industry Corporation of China (AVIC) showcased its new series of so-called ‘Light Arrow’ and ‘Sky Shield’ laser weapons systems at the Zhuhai Airshow in November 2024. The family of systems includes several different variants designed for integration into tactical vehicles and for fixed-site defense, Xinhua reported at the time.
The most interesting system AVIC displayed at Zhuhai was likely the Light Arrow-24, which Xinhua characterized as an “unmanned intelligent laser guard system,” a sentry drone with “independent and autonomous combat capabilities.”
Laser-equipped VN22 fighting vehicle and CS/VP4 Lynx
Like AVIC, NORINCO also unveiled several new vehicles equipped with laser weapon systems at the 2024 Zhuhai Airshow, including the company’s 6×6 VN22 armored fighting vehicle outfitted with an unidentified directed energy array bolted on top.
NORINCO also showed off its so-called 6x6 All Terrain 10 kw Laser Weapon System, which appears to consist of a novel laser array slapped onto a modified version of the company’s Lynx CS/VP4 all-terrain vehicle.
Unnamed naval laser weapons
China has been experimenting with naval laser weapons since at least 2019, when state-owned channel CCTV broadcast images of a ground-based demonstrator that bore an uncanny resemblance to the US Navy’s XN-1 LaWS system installed aboard the USS Ponce in 2014. By August 2024, imagery circulated on social media purporting to show an unidentified laser weapon turret installed aboard a People’s Liberation Army Navy (PLAN) Type 071 amphibious assault ship berthed at the new Chinese amphibious base in Shanghai. That same month, photos emerged showing what appears to be some type of directed energy system perched on the deck of the PLAN’s experimental new stealth frigate.
Assorted laser rifles
The PLA currently has several different types of handheld laser rifles in its possession, according to The War Zone: the BBQ-905, PY131A, PY132A, and WJG-2002. While these efforts are primarily laser dazzlers designed to blind enemy sensors, scientists at the Xian Institute of Optics and Precision Mechanics in 2018 unveiled a “laser AK-47” known as the ZKZM-500 that purportedly inflict “‘instant carbonization’ of human skin and tissues” on targets up to 1 km away – a claim that, like many emanating from the Chinese military, is likely bullshit.
Bohu anti-satellite laser complex
China has been testing ground-based anti-satellite laser weapons at the Bohu military complex near the city of Korla in the country’s Xinjiang Province since at least the early 2000s, according to the 2017 US-China Economic and Security Review Commission report, part of a broader push into ASAT systems that Mao initiated in the mid-1960s. In 2006, Defense News reported that the Chinese military had successfully employed a high-energy laser to blind US military surveillance satellites on several occasions, incidents that China tacitly confirmed in 2013. As recently as 2023, satellite photos indicated that the PLA has regularly employed anti-satellite lasers at the installation to “disrupt, destroy or hijack foreign satellites,” as Army Technology reported at the time.
