We face a threat from Iranian or NoKo or both in my view. I don’t believe we are in any danger from orbital attack any time soon though, I just don’t believe either Country is anywhere close to the technology to pull something like that off.
Last year I read several articles at different sources that described earlier Iranian missile tests as appearing to resemble at test of an EMP attack profile.
There is an enormous difference between achieving orbital velocity and just launching a rocket straight up. For orbit you have to accelerate the payload to 17,500 MPH. For a successful EMP attack you need 200-300 miles straight up.
The other thing is that complex and difficult to build high-yield thermonuclear devices damp out EMP. A simple uranium bomb detonation at altitude would produce a destructive EMP pulse that would be amplified by the atmosphere and make it more effective (The Compton Effect).
Iran and NoKo are not stupid. They know that if either one of them dared to try a missile attack on CONUS, we would wipe them off the map, and in spades. Why would they shoot one missile at us if they know the response would be hundred if not thousands of shots in return??
The whole idea of an EMP attack is to technologically incapacitate the target country and “level the field” so to speak. William Forstchen’s book “One Second After”, in which he deals with the aftermath of an EMP attack on the US, goes into this line of reasoning, and it is scary how badly such an attack would hurt us. In the book, the attackers load enhanced Scud missiles and launchers into cargo containers, and fire them from the Gulf of Mexico. Only minutes to do anything and there is little to do but hunker down and see what’s left afterwards.
Unless Iran has received help from Russia?China? and they’re planning an invasion of the US after we’re in a weakened state.
MORE THAN A LITTLE SOBERING.