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A presentation given by a US Air Force official may have -temporarily, at least - laid to rest one of the wilder and wackiersecret superweapon conspiracy theories of recent times. The superweapon in question is the dreaded "E-bomb", aka"Electromagnetic pulse weapon (EMP)" "High Power Microwave (HPM)" andso on, depending on the exact details.
Most people are familiar with the fact that a nuclear weapon givesoff a powerful electromagnetic pulse when detonated. Just as anordinary-strength RF transmission induces tiny electrical flows inreceiving antennae, a nuclear bomb's much more intense EMP can causedamaging spikes in exposed electronic circuitry, potentially knackeringit.
The Register wrote:
Ever since the effect was noted, various people have speculated thatit would be interesting to use a suitable nuke, not to leave one'senemy atomised and/or glowing in the dark, but rather to fry all hiselectronics. One way of doing so might be to let off the nuke just outside theatmosphere above the location to be EMPed. The eponymous Russkie spacezappers in the Bond flick Goldeneye were supposed to be some kind of E-bomb, for instance.
Not many people have nukes at all, though. Even fewer have so manyof these expensive things that they would expend them handing out arelatively mild electronic love-tap as opposed to actually killing anddestroying their enemies. However, a lot of people think you could generate usefully-powerful electro-zap effects using means short of nukes. Aviation Weekreporter David Fulghum, a veteran electronic-warfare analyst, has longprophesied the advent of the microwave weapon. Just last January, he wrote that: "High-power microwave weapons may be on the verge of a high-speed turn toward the practical." Highly-qualified* Australian aerospace zealot Dr Carlo Kopp has asserted that a poor man's HPM/EMP bomb driven by ordinary explosives would be a doddle to knock together.
Quote:
The relative simplicity of the [e-bomb bits] suggests thatany nation with even a 1940s technology base, once in possession ofengineering drawings and specifications for such weapons, couldmanufacture them. As an example, the fabrication of an effective [explosives-drivenflux generator] can be accomplished with basic electrical materials,common plastic explosives such as C-4 or Semtex, and readily availablemachine tools... communications infrastructure in the West will remaina 'soft' electromagnetic target in the forseeable future... With theformer CIS suffering significant economic difficulties, the possibilityof CIS designed microwave and pulse power technology leaking out toThird World nations or terrorist organisations should not bediscounted. The threat of electromagnetic bomb proliferation is veryreal.
Holy crap - the goddamn terrorists can slap one of these together, and knock out all of western civilisation Die Hard 4 stylee.