US May Debut Secret Microwave 'Pulse' Weapon Versus Iraq

Reuters News Wire ^ | Feb. 2, 2003 | Will Dunham

[ewing]

It substitues pure energy for munitions. It is designed to achieve military objectives without killing things or wrecking buildings.

And Saddam Husseins armed forces may be chosen as the first target of the US Military's new secret weapon.

The US Air Force is developing high power microwave, or HPM, weapon that generates a massive electromagnetic pulse capable of frying the inside of digital electronic systems, disabling enemy military equipment, analysts said.

While the weapon is top secret and details about it are classified, analyists say development is far enough along that they expect the military to use an HPM weapon for the first time in a possible war against Iraq.

[coloradan]

This is specifically what I was talking about.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Will this affect "innocent" Iraqis wearing pacemakers or other medical hardware?

No but I hope they've tuned it to melt anything in pink.

So is this thing still a secret?

[punster]

"Will this affect "innocent" Iraqis wearing pacemakers or other medical hardware?"

Don't worry, So-damned Insane has kept the Iraqi people so poor that they will not be able to afford pacemakers or other electronic devices. The only ones, who could possibly afford such expensive devices, are Saddam's stooges.

Of course, if they are Saddam's stooges, they are be definition not innocent.

[Physicist]

The fact is: the US Armed Forces are more dependent on electronics than any other country, and this is the last weapon we ought to want to see being used. All of these weapons become available to others after a while.

Will not using them prevent other countries from developing them? If we are ahead of the curve on developing them, you can bet we'll be ahead of the curve on defending against them. For now, we're the only ones who can realistically test such a defense.

[John123]

EVERYTHING uses integrated circuits and electrical components these days! Vehicles, kitchen appliances and doo-dads around the house.

More specifically, a lot of weapons use electrical components like rocket launchers, communication devices, detonation devices, tanks, vehicles, radar sites and others. If we can knock out most communications with the Iraqi army divisions and the commanders, we will severely limit their capabilities to coordinate or effect any strategies. The war should get much easier for the Allies.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

Something always jams my GPS receiver while driving from Detroit, North, to Flint City Michigan. It goes on for about 30 miles. GPS are based on simple redio waves. Anything that overpowers those waves, and makes them unreadable, on that frequency will jam it. Not a difficult task.

[martin_fierro]

Shep Smith had no comment. <|:)~

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

How many computers can there be in Baghdad anyway?

Lots. With tens of billions to spend (since he is doing little for the citizens of Iraq) Saddam has purchased some of the most advanced weapons and communications systems available (much on the black market, courtesy of our allies France, Germany, Russia, China). Since Desert Storm, he has installed sophisticated optical communications networks to prevent eavesdropping on military communications. Zapping that stuff early would take out their eyes and ears. A goodd thing. Nothing like a new war to test out the new goodies.

[Bogey78O]

Yea, if ya focus your reception though to dismiss earth based interference you'll be okay...

Just turn the squelch knob *wink*

[Dog Gone]

The fact is: the US Armed Forces are more dependent on electronics than any other country, and this is the last weapon we ought to want to see being used.

A non-lethal way to cripple the enemy?

If not using them would prevent other countries from not using them, your argument might be good. The truth is that our enemies will even use civilian airlines as weapons, and we'd never do that, either.

[69ConvertibleFirebird]

So how is it that you can eliminate the jamming radio waves that are on the same GPS frequency? Turning up the squelch knob that cuts back on interference also cuts back on the signal that you want. They are oj teh same frequency. Does the military have frequency hopping GPS now? I know their radios hop but I didn[t think that GPS did.

[Mixer]

Is this capable of bringing down Al Gore's internet?

[Blackyce]

They will become available to others regardless. They're really not that complicated. Eventually all of our technology will have to be shielded. Thats not that complicated either, its just really expensive.

[Numbers Guy]

The fact is: the US Armed Forces are more dependent on electronics than any other country, and this is the last weapon we ought to want to see being used

Most of our military electronics are hardened against EMP because of the fear of a nuclear weapon's EMP effects. As time goes by, more and more of our electronics will be thus hardened, and will be resistant to EMP, via nuke or pulse. Not only our our offensive capabilities here way ahead of the rest of the world, so are our defensive capabilities.

[Lockbox]

"These go to 11."

[coloradan]

Civilian receivers only receive one band, while the military ones use two others as well. All three would have to be knocked out to deny military GPS. Also, the spreading function on the civilian channel is public, while those on the military are classified, making them that much harder to intentionally jam. Futhermore, whatever jams your receiver is probably located at ground level, as your own receiver is. A JDAM falling out of the sky (1) is far from the ground and whatever interference sources are located there, until immediately before impact, and (2) has the navigational package on the tail section, pointing at the sky and shielded from ground-based radio sources by the mass and metal casing of the bomb itself. Together, these aspects make military GPS a lot harder to jam than civilian GPS, especially for guided bombs falling from 60,000 ft. Finally, no offense, your own receiver might not be the top-of-the-line even amongst civilian receivers, and there might be some that can retain even that signal, while yours cannot. Do you have, for example, an external antenna, or are you relying on the receiver functioning within your car (which, admittedly, is normally good enough)?

[EGPWS]

That GPS jammer is a hoax - it doesn't work.

Nice to see some common sense on this subject for a change! :)

[dozer7]

"That GPS jammer is a hoax - it doesn't work. But, if you can sell them to Iraqis for thousands of dollars, I guess they work
just fine!!"

Actually they do work that has been a probem for people in the biz for some years. To address this, development of "anti spoofing modules" differential GPS and RAIM criteria has minimized it considerably. All of this is in place in our aircraft and weapons. With enough RF power any receiver can be driven into saturation or excessive error rates.

just my thoughts

the dozer

[montomike]

I cannot believe your cynicism! /sarcasm off.

[dozer7]

"Incidentally, active jammers make great homing beacons"

Absolutly the redlegs can put a 155 HE on you in seconds.

dozer