Free Republic

THE US military is shielding itself from a new type of weapon capable of knocking out entire power grids for extended periods. An Air Force base in Texas will soon test its systems against a simulated electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, according to reports.... ...It's not clear when the base plans to launch its EMP defence tests, or precisely what those tests will entail. According to the Air Force request, the tests won't include the use of actual electromagnetic waves.... ...Trump moved to protect the US from the emerging threat of EMP attacks with an executive order issued in 2019. The...

Setting off a nuclear weapon about 200 miles (300 kilometers) above the U.S. could create an EMP that would cover most of North America, Pry said. The explosion and radiation from the bomb would dissipate before reaching ground level, but the resulting EMP would be powerful enough to destroy electronics across the region, Pry said. "If you were standing on the ground directly beneath the detonation, you wouldn't even hear it go off," Pry said. "The EMP would pass harmlessly through your body." A small EMP with a radius of under a kilometer can also be generated by combining high-voltage...

The nightmare scenario of an America sent back centuries in time before electricity, refrigeration, and smart phones has grown unnervingly closer with the presence of two North Korean satellites with orbits over a blissfully unaware American populace and an Obama administration indifferent to the apocalyptic threat of an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack.

Hi folks,I have been reading here for a very long time, but only recently registered an account. Since registering, I have done my best to take the oft-repeated admonishment to search before posting so that I am not one of the dunderheads who posts the same news five times (I am a dunderhead for other reasons). However, I do not seem to understand how the search function works, and I must say, I feel pretty stupid admitting this. For example:Yesterday, I searched on the name "staten" looking for articles about the bar owner who hit a sheriff's deputy on Staten...

Last week, the EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security issued a scary report on China’s ability to conduct an Electromagnetic Pulse attack on the United States. The key takeaway, according to Dr. Peter Pry,
 executive director of the task force, is that China now has super-EMP weapons, knows how to protect itself against an EMP attack, and has developed protocols to conduct a first-strike attack, even as they deny they would ever do so. According to the Center for Strategic International Studies, China has the most active ballistic missile development program in the world, so this is doubly...

Russian defense industry sources have disclosed the new details of the electromagnetic pulse cannon capable of hitting targets 6 miles away. The new super cannon will be able to shoot down aircraft and aerial drones by an electromagnetic pulse. “The trials of EMP weapons have been under way since 2015. The latest firing of EMP […] Russian defense industry sources have disclosed the new details of the electromagnetic pulse cannon capable of hitting targets 6 miles away. The new super cannon will be able to shoot down aircraft and aerial drones by an electromagnetic pulse. “The trials of EMP weapons...

A new analysis reveals China has used stolen U.S. technology to build three types of weapons that could be used to destroy America's power grid in a "surprise Pearl Harbor" assault that could kill millions, reports Paul Bedard in his Washington Secrets column. It's a threat about which WND has been reporting for two decades. Bedard documents it is a report from an independent EMP Task Force on National and Homeland Security that reveals China now has a "network of satellites, high-speed missiles and 'super-electromagnetic pulse' weapons that could melt down the U.S. electric network, fry critical communications and stifle...

An attempt by Iran to launch a satellite into orbit failed Sunday, the Iranian state television outlet Fars reported Sunday evening. A Simorgh or “Phoenix” rocket was used in the attempt to deploy the Zafar I communications satellite. The launch failed to deploy the satellite into orbit, however, Iranian television reported, due to low rocket speed. "It was launched with success and ... we have reached most our aims ... but the Zafar satellite did not reach orbit as planned," Fars reported. The Simorgh rocket had been launched from the Imam Khomeini Spaceport in Semnan province, about 145 miles southeast...

From a security standpoint, things don’t get much worse than the opening scene of Lee Dodson’s Infiltration. The book’s protagonist, a 67-year-old rancher named Rand (picture a cross between Tommy Lee Jones in “No Country for Old Men” and Sly Stallone in “Rambo”), is awakened in his home in the middle of the night by the subtle but unmistakable sound of a silenced gunshot. By the novel’s third paragraph, Rand’s wife and son are dead. Before the end of the first chapter, his ranch is razed and, from the sound of reports in the distance, the same nightmare has played...

Stanford researchers have shown that a few layers of atomically thin materials, stacked like sheets of paper atop hot spots, can provide the same insulation as a sheet of glass 100 times thicker. In the near term, thinner heat shields will enable engineers to make electronic devices even more compact than those we have today... The heat we feel from smartphones or laptops is actually an inaudible form of high-frequency sound. If that seems crazy, consider the underlying physics. Electricity flows through wires as a stream of electrons. As these electrons move, they collide with the atoms of the materials...

Widespread electricity outages could become the new normal in Venezuela, experts have warned, as the country struggled to restore power after a massive blackout that left millions without power or access to the internet. Blackouts plunge Venezuela into chaos as minister blames saboteurs Energy minister Freddy Brito said on Tuesday morning that power had been restored in Caracas and at least five states after the outage which the government blamed on an “electromagnetic attack” at hydroelectric dams in the south of the country. Around 80% of Venezuela’s grid is served by hydropower. But energy analysts were deeply suspicious of government...

...extensive power cut has once again paralyzed Venezuela in recent days. The Information Minister of the Maduro regime claims that "this is an electromagnetic attack".

Large swathes of Venezuela remained without power on Tuesday, the day after the country suffered its fourth nationwide blackout this year. The blackout, which officials blamed on a hostile "electromagnetic attack," affected almost the entire country, including the capital Caracas. About 94% of Venezuela's telecommunications infrastructure was hit by the outage, and internet connectivity was only running at 10% nationwide, according to Netblocks, a non-profit organization dedicated to tracking outages.

https://thehill.com/opinion/national-security/436224-finally-a-presidential-emp-order-that-may-save-american-lives?amp

President Trump on Tuesday added to his long list of battles by issuing an executive order to increase preparedness for a possible electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, attack. An EMP, either by a nuclear device or solar event, could shut down massive sections of the electric grid, according to numerous studies. That would mean no financial transactions are possible, no truck transport to haul goods and food, no communications and much more. In short, it could threaten the lives of tens of millions of people. The White House confirmed that the president has signed an order titled “Coordinating National Resilience to...

The U.S. does not have to be Venezuela, either socialist or grid down As if the complete — and inevitable — collapse of Venezuela’s disastrous socialist experiment were not bad enough, the long-suffering population there is now five days into a near-total collapse of its electric grid. People are increasingly desperate for the most basic necessities of life, most especially water.

Federal officials and energy experts offered their most blunt assessment to date regarding the ongoing vulnerability of the U.S. power grid, telling a Senate committee that solar-generated attacks alone cost $10 billion a year. In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Operations Committee, the officials noted that the attacks are growing and pose a substantial, long-term risk to a vulnerable power grid. They warned that a catastrophic failure would cut off electricity to millions of Americans, probably for months at a time, causing untold damage and social chaos, adding that the grid is an easy target for solar,...

A report by the now-defunct Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from EMP Attack, for the first time reveals details on how nuclear EMP weapons are integrated into the military doctrines of China, Russia, North Korea, and Iran. "Nuclear EMP attack is part of the military doctrines, plans, and exercises of Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran for a revolutionary new way of warfare against military forces and civilian critical infrastructures by cyber, sabotage, and EMP," the report states.

Dr. Peter Pry is the Executive Director of the EMP Task Force. Pry explains there are three sources of EMP: the sun, nuclear weapons, and non-nuclear weapons. The entire world would be affected, putting “electric grids and critical infrastructures” as well as “billions of lives” at risk. Pry believes it is “inevitable” that we will be struck by a Carrington-class geomagnetic storms, for “it’s not a question of if, but it’s a question of when will that happen.” A second EMP threat stems from nuclear weapons “detonated at high altitude” of 30 to 400 kilometers. “A single nuclear weapon detonated...

Commuters who live in western Prince William and Fauquier counties can leave the driving to someone else come Dec. 17 when a new bus begins round-trip service from Haymarket to Arlington. The “OmniRide Haymarket Express” will make four trips in the morning and four return trips in the afternoon and early evening. It will run along I-66 between Haymarket and the Rosslyn Metro station. The trips will originate from the new park-and-ride lot on the northeast corner of U.S. 15 and Interstate 66. The Monday-through Friday service is meant to give workers an alternative to traveling by car. It’s the...