A Cobalt bomb though possible is impracticable. A nuclear bomb built to maximize EMP effect is both possible and practical. i.e. Neutron Bomb
Oh, and I think that most neutron bombs are more efficient and under 10-20 KT IIRC limiting it as a strategic role unless it goes after command and control.
Neutron bombs don't scare me.....Marxist Muslim national leaders do.
Glad to see there are at least a couple of people here who know what they are talking about.
The danger is real — not theoretical.
I have imagined a scenario that would accomplish the result describe in “One Second After.” Take a terrorist state like Iran that has the funds. Manufacture three small, high-yield EMP nuke warheads, and attach to superscud type missiles. Buy a handful of Club-K missile launchers from Russian, throw out the cruise missiles and replace with nuke-armed scuds. (Or have the Ruskies attach them for you.) (For those who don’t know, Club-K launchers look exactly like shipping containers. Deploy containers via ship and truck at multiple points of entry. Once in position, all they have to do is point and click. War heads explode at set altitude. No need for sophisticated satellite tracking etc.?
America is thrown back to the stone age. Forget the 1800s. The people in the 1800s had tools and technology suitable to live in the 1800s. We will become cave men with personal fire arms...and that’s about it.
Those of you who doubt this better 1) shut up about it being exaggerated, 2) read “One Second After”, and 3) read the 2001 Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP).
If I were an islamic terrorist with access to Iran-level funding I would focus on nothing else BUT an EMP strike. Nothing — NOTHING — else comes close. Entirely feasible right now, today.