Boeing Creates The First Working EMP Missile

From Sci-Fi To Reality: The Computer-Blitzing Drone That Can Cripple A Nation's Electronics At The Touch Of A Button -- Daily Mail

* Aircraft manufacturer Boeing have created a weapon that can knock out computers
* The missile is thought to be able to penetrate bunkers and caves
* Experts warn, in the wrong hands, could bring Western cities to their knees

Down the years and across the universe, the heroes of science-fiction classics from Dan Dare to Star Wars and The Matrix have fought intergalactic battles with weapons that wipe out enemy electronics at the touch of a button.

Now scientists have turned fantasy into reality by developing a missile that targets buildings with microwaves that disable computers but don’t harm people.

Aircraft manufacturer Boeing successfully tested the weapon on a one-hour flight during which it knocked out the computers of an entire military compound in the Utah desert.

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More News on the first Working EMP Missile

Cyber Warfare: Missile Can Cripple Computers -- SKY News
Boeing Tests A Missile That Knocks Out A Building's Power [Video] -- Popular Science
CHAMP Missile Could Shut Down the Electronics of the Country Permanently: Boeing -- Avionics
Missile to disable a country’s electronics -- Economic Times
A missile that only destroys electronics! -- EETimes
Boeing Has Created A Drone That Can Cripple An Entire Nation’s Computers At The Touch Of A Button [Photos] -- Inquistr
A CHAMP At Destroying Electronics -- Strategy Page
New Targeting Missile Would Knock Out Enemy’s Electronics -- Heritage Foundation

Is North Korea Developing An EMP Weapon?

Inside The Ring: North Korean EMP -- Washington Times

Recent satellite navigation jamming by North Korea’s military near the demilitarized zone and a report in a Chinese journal are raising new fears that Pyongyang is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons.

A communist-owned monthly journal in Hong Kong reported last month that the GPS jamming of aircraft navigation systems that was traced to North Korea is part of asymmetric warfare capabilities of the reclusive communist state.

The Bauhinia journal article, by military commentator Li Daguang said the new capabilities threaten South Korea’s information and electronic warfare capabilities.

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My Comment: This is actually old news. ABC News reported on this story last year.

Is Britain Vulnerable To An E-Bomb Attack

A Russian Topol-12M mobile nuclear missile. In the worst case scenario, a nuclear missile could be fired in to space that would release a pulse large enough to paralyse Britain’s infrastructure, defence experts will warn today. Photo: REUTERS

Britain Vulnerable To E-Bomb Attack, Experts To Warn -- The Telegraph

Britain needs to spend money on building defences against an “E-bomb” that would explode in the upper atmosphere and knock out all electronic communication and power, the Defence Secretary will say today.

Phillip Hammond will tell a conference that money needs to be spent on defences that “cannot be seen on the parade ground.”

Dependence on electronic networks “creates vulnerability” he will say, adding that the response cannot be based on “infantry, or jet planes or destroyers.”

There is an increasing possibility that a rogue state could use an “E-bomb” that would release a devastating electromagnetic pulse (EMP), experts will tell a two-day conference in London.

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My Comment: Britain has other more pressing concerns to spend money on than spending money (that they do not have) on a threat that may (or may not) exist.

Update: Electromagnetic pulses in history -- The Telegraph

Is China Testing An EMP Weapon Directed At Taiwan?

Report: China Was Testing For EMP Attack On Taiwan -- Commentary

According to a declassified 2005 report released last week, China had been testing the effects of an electromagnetic pulse attack–the detonation of a nuclear device at high altitude to maximize the area affected by the EMP–possibly meant for Taiwan. According to the report, China was actually testing two kinds of nuclear blasts and the effects the resulting radiation would have on humans. (China was testing them on animals, which experienced “high mortality rates.”)

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My Comment: More background information on China's EMP progran can be found here, and here.

North And South Korea Developing Electromagnetic Pulse Weapons

Photo: The Korea Internet Security Center run by the Korea Internet and Security Agency monitors cyber attacks and hacking incidents targeting domestic websites around the clock. Chosun Ilbo

North Korea Nears Completion of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb -- ABC News

N. Korea Disrupts Current Military Maneuvers With Russian Device To Jam GPS

North Korea appears to be protesting the joint U.S. and South Korean military maneuvers by jamming Global Positioning Devices in the south, which is a nuisance for cell phone and computers users -- but is a hint of the looming menace for the military.

Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt GPS receivers critical to South Korean military communications apparently in protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming signals were sent intermittently every five to 10 minutes.

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More News On North And South Korea Developing Weapon Systems To Disrupt Each Others Electronics/Computer Networks

Seoul 'Develops Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb' -- Chosun Ilbo
We can, and will, use EMP bomb, says South Korea -- News.com.au
North Korea Jams GPS in War Game Retaliation -- The Danger Room
Confirmed: North cause of GPS hit -- Joong Ang Daily
S. Korean Defense Chief Says GPS Jamming Signals Originated From N. Korea's Mt. Geumgang -- Arirang
N.Korea Blamed for Last Week's Cyber Attack -- Chosun Ilbo
How N.Korean Hackers Could Inflict Maximum Damage -- Chosun Ilbo
Bracing for electronic warfare -- Joong Ang Daily
SKorea to get more weapons amid NKorean threat -- Washington Post/AP

The Impact Of An EMP Attack On The U.S.

Image from US Infrastructure

EMP: The Next Weapon Of Mass Destruction? -- Time Magazine

If America needs a new threat around which to organize its defenses, try this one: Bad guys explode nuclear weapons miles above U.S. soil, sending out an electromagnetic pulse (EMP) that fries the electronic guts of everything in America. The nation's financial and transportation systems collapse, hospitals and the Internet go dark, water and electrical grids freeze and runaway Toyotas with electronic throttles are finally brought to a stop. "The EMP resulting from the blast would cause widespread damage, devastating the economy and resulting in the deaths of millions of Americans," the hawkish Heritage Foundation warned last week, launching a call on Congress to establish an EMP Recognition Day.

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My Comment: In 1998 Quebec experienced an ice storm that knocked out the electrical grid for 4-7 days in Montreal, and weeks outside the city. Since it was winter, temperatures were at -5C to -20C, and all business activity came to a halt.

Did we experience a disaster .... did thousands die? No. The result of this disaster was the following .... no one died, crime went down, community help and assistance went into play, and everyone helped everyone to get over this rough time. Government, private communities, utilities .... everyone pitched in.

If the US was to experience an EMP attack in which the electrical grid was to be knocked out .... I am going to expect the same thing to happen in the US. Times will be tough, but I expect everyone will get together and help each other to recover as quickly as possible.

In short .... millions will not die, the economy will not be destroyed, and we will recover sooner rather than later.

And then we go after the bastards who would do this.

‘E-Bomb’ Doomsday Conference Starts Today

From The Danger Room:

It’ll fry pace makers, destroy iPhones, and turn laptops into useless paperweights. It’s the scariest thing most people outside the Washington Beltway have never heard of: electromagnetic pulse weapons.

And you can learn all about it starting today at the EMPACT conference in Niagara Falls, New York.

Electromagnetic pulse, or EMP, is a burst of electromagnetic radiation that fries electronics, from satellites to toaster ovens. The effects of a nuclear EMP were first observed after the 1962 Starfish Prime nuclear test, which knocked out satellites and electronics. EMP weapons are specifically designed to maximize this electronics-killing effect, which can be done by detonating a high-altitude nuclear explosion.

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My Comment: I looked at the video .... and I am not impressed. The U.S. already has a large number of threats facing it .... this one will be at the bottom of the list.

Electric Grid Still Very Vulnerable To Electromagnetic Weaponry

From Science News:

Electromagnetic pulse is hardly a household term. But perhaps it should be. Every computer we buy, every system we turn over to computer control, every device that relies on electronic components — all cars, TVs and phones, for instance — makes us more vulnerable to such a high-energy rain of electrons.

EMP is a powerful and potentially devastating form of electromagnetic "fallout." It’s usually associated with nuclear weapons, although it can be triggered by any major explosive bursts. Unlike radioactive fallout, this rain won’t directly harm living things. It will just catastrophically fry all electronics and modern electrical systems by inducing staggeringly large and rapid current or voltage surges.

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My Comment: If an group/organization has a nuclear device, and they want to use it against the U.S., they will not go through the trouble of building an EMP device, they will explode it in the middle of New York City, Washington DC, or in L.A.