EMP bomb... WOW

The discovery channel has a cool series titled future weapons, one of the things they talked about was an EMP, electromagnetic pulse, bomb.

Decades ago, during high altitude nuclear weapons tests, one of the blast effects observed by military scientists was a strong electromagnetic pulse (EMP) capable of disabling many types of electrical equipment. It was quickly recognized as a potent weapon on its own and today it is seen -- in a non-nuclear form -- as an effective and devastating component of a superpower's arsenal.

Here's the link

dsc.discovery.com...

Some background on EMP bomb's
en.wikipedia.org...


A scary thing they said was that a weapon properly detonated 300 miles above earths surface could wipe out mostly all electronics in all of North America!

They also said that the Russian built beer can size EMP weapons and their yields are pretty much unknown. Detonating one of these things in an airport or the NYSE could be disastrous.

[edit on 28-5-2006 by Distortion]

Thanks for the links to the discovery story. I have been wondering about EMP technology and delivery systems for quite awhile. I have read 'war gaming' papers that discuss utilizing EMP weapons as the 'appetizer' in advance of a nuclear strike.

Just sitting here thinking about how much chaos could be unleashed upon a 'technological' society by EMP's is very frightening.

I watched it also, they drove a car through one and it shut off. I play BF2. its cool to see the weapons in the game talked about in the show. no EMP in the game.

Yeah I was just blown away by the fact that it could fry all electronics in North America.... following the same logic one of these could take out all of Europe as well. Imagine a WWIII scenario, the winner is gona be the one who uses these first!!

Military and Banks would not be effected as they have taken great pains to make sure they are "hardend" against this type of attack. EMP weapons may be used at some point in the future, but they have a relatively narrow window of usefullness as it looks like we are going towards Optical based computers and "Optronics"(as opposed to Electronics) relatively soon(next 10 years IMO).

Originally posted by Distortion
...the winner is gona be the one who uses these first!!

In a mass EMP attack, for us, the civilians, there are no winners, our electronics will still get fried either way. No matter who launches an EMP attack first they will most surely get a response back. For decades now the military sector has shielded key facilities and systems, and I suspect key government and infrastructure facilities as well from EMP. They are shielded and prepared to the point where a retaliatory response can still be launched and a limited war can still be conducted.

[edit on 29-5-2006 by WestPoint23]

sardion2000 is right most vital systems military commands etc.. are all hardened from EMP effects and have been for a long time. Depending on the power of EMP you might only need a few mm to meters of shielding. Any dense material can work as a shield steel, lead even earth.

I personally think a EMP device could easily be viewed as a WMD and provoke a nuclear response. So I dont really know how useful using one against a nuclear power is going to be (except perhaps if your a terrorist org.) Its alittle hard to target a terrorist org with a nuke.

Also, its important to point out, that the reason for that shielding wasn't for specifically EMP Weapons. It was to shield from the EMP blast of a Nuke going off in the thermosphere.

Yup saw that last night.

Imagine everything coming to a sudden screeching halt.

No communications, no power, no gasoline, no pumps for water, no heat,
all of it useless.

FEMA will be useless. It will be every man for himself out there.

And you won't even have your iPod to give you comfort

It's all said and done until an EMP hits an exposed power grid.

Forgot about our exposed power grids have we? Sure bases can have back up generators, but how long can they stay operational without main power?

Civilian life would most dramatically change however.

There is no real way to be completely invunerable to an EMP attack, we are way too dependent on Electronics. Strange on that optronics thing. Never heard of it.

Shattered OUT...

Well, NORAD for example at the Cheyenne Mountain complex has six 1,700+ Kilowatt diesel generators for emergency use. Now the drawback to this is the amount of gasoline that you can store. Normally gasoline cannot be stored for more than a month without using a fuel stabilizing chemical, even then the shelf life is still relatively short. So even if the complex has an immense amount of gasoline stored inside it would still have to be renewed when its shelf life expires. But I’m sure they've though of something over the years. So Shatter they can stay operational as long as you have gasoline and a good maintenance crew.

Just though of something, could the US build a small nuclear reactor (like those used on ships) inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex to provide a virtually limitless supply of electricity?


[edit on 29-5-2006 by WestPoint23]

How about inviting Dick Cheney to the next test?

Originally posted by WestPoint23
Just though of something, could the US build a small nuclear reactor (like those used on ships) inside the Cheyenne Mountain complex to provide a virtually limitless supply of electricity?

It would actually be easier to build a reactor at Cheyenne Mountain than it would on a ship or a sub, because there would be virtually no space limitations, and no weight restrictions.

yeah i read something a few months ago about britain testing emp warheads:-

www.strategypage.com...

Yeah maybe specially EMP hardened military bases would be shielded but the vast majority of the U.S. infrastructure is left utterly vulnerable.

[edit on 30-5-2006 by Distortion]

Originally posted by Distortion
Yeah maybe specially EMP hardened military bases would be shielded but the vast majority of the U.S. infrastructure is left utterly vulnerable.

[edit on 30-5-2006 by Distortion]

That's what I was getting at, it doesn't matter if your Military Bases are shielded, because the U.S. infrastructure isn't, America can fall in a relatively short time from an all out EMP attack.

Remember it's been the strategy of current armies to attack the enemies' infrastructure. It's worked in the past for America, why shouldn't it work against America? America is a widely industrial nation where Agriculture takes up like 5 percent of the industry(small percent, but due to current technology, that percentage can produce enough supplies for the entire nation of America and provide possibly relief efforts with supplies overseas. Thank god for technology.)

If you take out a nation's infrastructure, doesn't really matter the military bases are protected or not, you've been disabled.

Shattered OUT...

Same goes for any modern nation in the world, to shield all commercial/civilian infrastructure and electronics from EMP is just not physically nor economically feasible. The only defense we have is the knowledge that we can cripple an enemy in return.

[edit on 30-5-2006 by WestPoint23]

You mentioned optronics computers, what are those, as I have never heard of that, could someone tell me what an optronic Computer is.

Other usefull information here: Wikipedia - High-altitude nuclear explosion

The purpose of the shots was to determine both feasibility of nuclear weapons as an anti-ballistic missile defense, as well as a means to defeat satellites and manned orbiting vehicles in space (...) The worst effects of a Russian high-altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis), in ‘Operation K’ (ABM System A proof tests) when a 300-kt missile-warhead detonated near Dzhezkazgan at 290-km altitude. The EMP fused 570 km of overhead telephone line with a measured current of 2,500 A, started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1,000-km of shallow-buried power cables between Aqmola and Almaty

Impressive that they were already able to product so much damage in 1962..


Image of the EMP impact of the 1960 test :

High altitude nuclear test resulting in a fairly significant EMP.


Starfish Prime

Starfish Prime was a high-altitude nuclear test conducted by the United States of America on July 9, 1962, a joint effort of the Atomic Energy Commission (AEC) and the Defense Atomic Support Agency (which became the Defense Nuclear Agency in 1971). Launched via a Thor rocket and carrying a W49 thermonuclear warhead (manufactured by Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory) and a Mk. 4 reentry vehicle, the explosion took place 250 miles (400 kilometers) above a point 19 miles (31 kilometers) southwest of Johnston Island in the Pacific Ocean. It was one of five tests conducted by the USA in outer space as defined by the FAI. It produced a yield equivalent to 1.4 megatons of TNT.

Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP-damaged microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands