US Admits N. Korea and/or Iran Can Hit It With EMP.

Right Wing Conservative News Blog ^ | May 11, 2017 | Jeffrey A. Friedberg

[PreciousLiberty]

"The experts did mention hydrogen bombs. It’s a question of a different type of detonator."

No it isn't. A hydrogen bomb is substantially more complex than a fission bomb, and miniaturizing it enough to be a missile payload is tough. The possible warhead that Kim was seen with is clearly a fission only device. A fission device is used as the trigger for an H-bomb, but there's a lot more to it than that.

NK will definitely test any thermonuclear device it develops rather than just assuming it'll work. It's something NK would love for propaganda purposes regardless of the necessity of the test. So, we'll know it when they have it - although the first version will likely be far too big for a missile warhead.

There is a lot of information in the open literature, which is worrisome. This diagram of the W88, our most advanced warhead and a 480 KT device, is on Wikipedia:

Having that diagram is still very far from having a working duplicate though... (BTW a similar diagram was on the front page of the New York Times in the late 90s when it was thought China received classified information on the W88. The Trident D-5 missile was designed to throw 12 W88s, although currently each missile carries eight to conform to START.)

[PreciousLiberty]

“In short, guys, we all need to look at FACTS, not some preconceived notions about how EMP works. It isn’t necessarily TEOTWAWKI, but neither is it a nothingburger.”

E1 is certainly not a “nothingburger”, but it will not ‘“fry” the unprotected US power grid and send America back to the 18th Century’. It very possibly could cause significant numbers of deaths, fry a lot of electronics and cause a major short-term economic problem - but within a relatively short time the grid would be up and running again.

Here’s a very detailed report on the potential effects of E1 on the US. All calculations were done with a 500 KT yield.

https://www.ferc.gov/industries/electric/indus-act/reliability/cybersecurity/ferc_meta-r-320.pdf

Note that the induced voltage drops off substantially with height of burst and distance from ground zero.

E3 is the component that could potentially take down the grid for months to years (by frying large transformers), but again that would take one or more very large weapon(s).

[Ancesthntr]

“Here’s a very detailed report on the potential effects of E1 on the US. All calculations were done with a 500 KT yield.”

Really?

Here is what the report you linked to said on page 2-12:

“It is important to note what is not important for E1 HEMP:
1. Kinetic energy.
2. Neutron output.
3. Low energy x rays (most of the weapon output energy)
4. Device yield.

It should also be noted that device yield cannot even be used indirectly to calculate the E1
HEMP. It is not possible to calculate the needed gamma and x-ray parameters from a
given value of yield. There can be variations from one weapon design to the next in
terms of the gamma and high energy x-ray parameters that are important for E1 HEMP. “

So, whomever wrote this report, and gave you the conclusions you cited with a 500KT explosion in one breath, said that the explosion itself didn’t matter in another breath.

FYI, I have seen reports that came right out and said that the Norks have some of the more advanced Soviet designs for warheads designed to enhance EMP (presumably E1, though that was not specified). If so, then the E1 yield of a weapon that they use could be significantly higher with a smaller explosive yield device than the hypothetical 500K device used in the report.

Me, I’d prefer not to take chances. You have an insane leader of a country with nukes and delivery capabilities, with those nukes representing possibly the ultimate in assymetric warfare.