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"E-bomb" may see first combat use in Iraq
newscientist ^

Posted on 08/09/2002 9:21:21 PM PDT by chance33_98


"E-bomb" may see first combat use in Iraq 

17:45 08 August 02

NewScientist.com news service

Weapons designed to attack electronic systems and not people could see their first combat use in any military attack on Iraq.

It is widely believed that the US is planning for an attack that could overthrow Iraq's leader, Saddam Hussein, who it believes is developing weapons of mass destruction. The Iraqi president responded publicly for the first time on Thursday, exhorting Iraqis to be prepared "with all the force you can to face your enemies".

US intelligence reports indicate that key elements of the Iraqi war machine are located in heavily-fortified underground facilities or beneath civilian buildings such as hospitals. This means the role of non-lethal and precision weapons would be a critical factor in any conflict.

High Power Microwave (HPM) devices are designed to destroy electronic equipment in command, control, communications and computer targets and are available to the US military. They produce an electromagnetic field of such intensity that their effect can be far more devastating than a lighting strike.

Pumped flux

The effect exploited by HPM weapons was accidentally demonstrated in the 1950s when street lights in Hawaii were knocked out by the electromagnetic pulse produced by high altitude nuclear tests.

One unclassified approach to producing the required pulse is a device called an Explosive Pumped Flux Generator. In this a charged bank of capacitors energises a coil wrapped around a copper tube, which itself contains high explosives.

On detonation, the explosives expand the tube from the back and moves rapidly forward, forcing the tube to make progressive contact with the coil and causing a short circuit. This has the effect of crushing the magnetic field at the same time as reducing the coil's inductance.

The resultant spike lasts tens to hundreds of microseconds and can produce peak currents of tens of millions of Amps and peak energies of tens of millions of Joules. By comparison, a typical lighting strike produces around 30,000 Amps.

Single use

HPM weapons would be single-use and could be delivered on almost any a cruise missile or unmanned aircraft. Future devices are likely to be re-usable.

Military planners will be particularly interested in claimed ability of HPM weapon's to penetrate bunkers buried deep underground by using service pipes, cables or ducts to transmit the spike. Insulating equipment from such spikes, for example by using Faraday cages, is believed to be very difficult and expensive.

Another weapon that targets electronic equipment has already seen use in the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s. Blackout bombs, such as the formerly classified BLU-114/B, releases a spider's web of fine carbon filaments into the air above electrical distribution infrastructures. This causes short circuits when the filaments touch the ground.

Tomahawk cruise missiles fitted with warheads operating on similar lines attacked the Iraqi power grid during the 1990 Gulf war.


TOPICS: Government
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1 posted on 08/09/2002 9:21:21 PM PDT by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
Cool. Buts lets drop some regular bombs too. A couple daisy-cutters would be nice!
2 posted on 08/09/2002 9:24:42 PM PDT by evolved_rage
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To: evolved_rage
I am waiting on liberals to suggest we are going to war so we can test new weapons...
3 posted on 08/09/2002 9:27:08 PM PDT by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
I thought we were going to war help Bush's big oil buddies. <\sarcasm>

You would think Liberals would like war as it increases the percentage of gay men IN the country when the Military is OUT of the country....

5 posted on 08/09/2002 9:31:42 PM PDT by evolved_rage
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To: evolved_rage
I dunno, seems like a few slipped through!

6 posted on 08/09/2002 9:36:15 PM PDT by chance33_98
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To: chance33_98
I've been reading about these things for years. Nasty stuff! In the twink of an eye they can deliver you to a prehistoric lifestyle. Your radio don't work. Your electric toothbrush or can-opener. Your lawnmower is instantly a sculpture. No stove. No AC. No heat. Your car is now a planter. Eat what is in your refrigerator and freezer real quick. Unless you have parts, beaucoup parts, that somehow were shielded, you ain't gonna resurrect any of this stuff either. Everything is fried. Fried. You know how to build a fire?
Don't think either that the government has enough stuff shielded to make a difference in your life. They don't. You will be living like a Neanderthal for months.
7 posted on 08/09/2002 9:39:54 PM PDT by thegreatbeast
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To: chance33_98
Like cobra venom's paralyzing effect on the human nervous system, the e-bomb burns out the entire electronic infrastructure blinding and paralyzing the military and civil response forces.
8 posted on 08/09/2002 9:46:06 PM PDT by NetValue
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To: NetValue
Well, I say we over yonder and test it out. Comments here do remind me though of something in revelation about the last days and an army on horseback.... :)
9 posted on 08/09/2002 9:57:03 PM PDT by chance33_98
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To: ben_j_jones
That was "1.2 Gigawatts" which they pronounced as "jigawatts". Of course, all you need to get that much energy is your very own "Mr. Fusion".

10 posted on 08/09/2002 10:10:04 PM PDT by Nik Naym
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To: chance33_98
Back last year Popular Science or some similar magazine warned that terrorists could build an E-Bomb for $800.
11 posted on 08/09/2002 10:20:39 PM PDT by Securo
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To: chance33_98
could be delivered on almost any a cruise missile or unmanned aircraft.

Wouldn't want to be relying on a piloted aircraft's electronics nearby when this thing detonated.
12 posted on 08/09/2002 10:28:27 PM PDT by Mike Fieschko
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To: chance33_98
Weapons designed to attack electronic systems and not people

They may have been designed to attack electronic systems and not people, but that doesn't mean it's a spring picnic to be anywhere near one when it goes off. They still have quite a bit of HE in them.

13 posted on 08/09/2002 11:07:07 PM PDT by coloradan
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To: thegreatbeast
Nasty stuff! In the twink of an eye they can deliver you to a prehistoric lifestyle

That's right. Any electronic equipment that's close enough to the bomb radius would be decimated. Very nice for taking out pesky SAM missile sites where we only know the general area and it happens to be occupied by civilians. Saddam thinks his people have it bad now? Wait til the generators don't work and the trucks stop running.
14 posted on 08/09/2002 11:22:03 PM PDT by Bush2000
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To: thegreatbeast
Interestingly, these things mostly fry modern transistor based electronics and microciruitry. You best chance for survival is with old-fashioned tube electronics with wired circuitry. A lively topic of discussion when I was on active duty in the '70s. We kept a number of older tube/hardwired computers in service precisely because they were considered more EMP survivable than the better newer equipment. Don't know if that's still true.
15 posted on 08/10/2002 4:39:44 AM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: CatoRenasci
Q: Does EMP fry anything delicate that can have a current induced upon it, or does it fry active electronics?? My belief is that electronic items that are off, and not holding a charge in a capacitor are less susceptible than circuit in use, but I'm not sure.
16 posted on 08/10/2002 11:12:54 AM PDT by evolved_rage
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To: chance33_98; All
You have to hunt around for it, but there used to be some EMP warhead info here:

-Softwar!-- has tons of National Security info-

17 posted on 08/10/2002 11:42:24 AM PDT by backhoe
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To: evolved_rage
The former. Off doesn't help much, if at all. Shielding helps, but is heavy and expensive.
18 posted on 08/10/2002 1:44:50 PM PDT by CatoRenasci
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To: CatoRenasci
My '84 Ford diesel truck is one of the last vehicles made without a single IC. No ABS, no digitally-controlled fuel injection, no microprocessor anywhere. I'm sure even riding lawn mowers have a computer by now. Many dirt bikes do (i.e. ignition and exhaust valve timing).

Those non-digital street lights probably burned out because long lengths of power cable picked up extra heavy duty amounts of electro-magnetic radiation.

19 posted on 08/10/2002 2:04:53 PM PDT by steve86
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Comment #20 Removed by Moderator


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