Aedin

I was watching the news couple days ago and heard that Iran has recently gained the knowledge of how to create an EMP bomb that could fry the united states electricity. My first reaction to that was yeah right because Iran from my view doesnt possess the technology to make something that big. I am not even sure if the US has the technology to produce something of that scale. Has anyone else heard of this?

JamesB

EMP bombs are almost exceedingly easy to make (in theory). The idea is that you create a very powerful electromagnet and immediately stop the magnetic field by blowing up the source. Apparently the faster the "fall time" the more effective the pulse.

Still - I'd just throw chains into sub-stations .. far easier to topple power grids that way.

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ironmaiden7o7

I'm sorry but these topics and ideas make my skin crawl.

mokle

Who cares. You saw it on the news, so it's probably BS.

I wouldn't worry about it.

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flamingdog

So they shouldn't be discussed?

stingc

The most effective EMP weapon is a standard nuclear warhead. If detonated in the upper atmosphere, a reasonably sized H-bomb can destroy electronics for several hundred miles (or more) in all directions.

Non-nuclear EMP devices would affect a MUCH smaller area. Although probably very useful for an army to have, it could not be used to cripple a country.

ObieX

Even if Iran had one they would never be able to deploy it against the US so there's no need to worry.

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doncalypso

Even if Iran developed EMP bombs they wouldn't have a delivery system capable of making those warheads reach the United States.

People need to realize that to date North Korea, Iran, Lybia, or other such "rogue states" do not have the capacity to build missiles with the kind of range to effectively hit the United States.

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Phage

Of course, this is not to say that they will never have that capacity. Therefore I think it is clear we should be hard at work on our missile defense system; how some people are against it I cannot fathom.

EMP is not very hard at all to shield against, and one of the few examples of where a tin-foil hat works wonders. Grounded chicken wire can be used to protect entire structures and if you do a search on "Faraday cages" you will come up with a ton of info.

Pragma

The key is that you don't need a long-range missile to deliver an EMP blast to a city - it wouldn't be terribly difficult to smuggle the materials in (or simply buy them). I don't believe that the requisite materials are that complicated, though I could be wrong.

Even a small-scale EMP blast, properly placed, could cause lots of damage. Imagine taking out the electronics at an airport, stock market, or hospital. This isn't meant to cause irrational panic, but simply to discourage people from saying "They don't have ICBMs, we're safe."

Cuatela

It really isn't hard for terrorists to attack. Anyone properly brainwashed could be convinced to set off an EMP somewhere. A lot of the terrorism control focuses on certain groups of people.

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Charlatan

Some might set off an EMP just for fun.

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d*d

EMP?! where did that come from, I'm getting a strange feeling of deja-vu, can't you see that the media is just creating another 'justifiable' reason to bomb another country, if you're worried about an EMP threat, think how Iranians are feeling about a US missile attack

F-18_Driver

Ummmm, why do they need a missile to deliver one?

All they'd have to do is sneak it across the border. After that, you could drop the nuke out of a Piper Cub.

hulk

Sure, if that Cub has afterburners. Ain't anything without four engines and a bomb bay lifting a nuke.

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ObieX

What made me worry is within the past few days the chairman of the joint Chiefs of Staff came forward with (from CNN) - http://www.cnn.com/2005/POLITICS/05/03/myers.report/index.html

What other wars are we planing on getting ourselves into so soon? We're having a big enough pain in the ass trying to deal with the stuff we're in now. Any more and we'll be drafting. The way it comes off is that someone is pushing to try to get us into another conflict to the point where this guy had to come forward and state to the public that if we do we'll be in some trouble. Like before the Afghanistan and Iraq invasions the propoganda machine is churning and the governmnt is trying to pump the country up for military action. This guy probably saw it all going down and is trying to push us away from that.

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stingc

That statement look pretty innocent to me. It probably just means that we couldn't defend ourselves very well if attacked right now.

MSD

Give me $400 and I can build a simple Flux Compression Generator, the most basic EMP weapon. Basically it consists of two electromagnetic coils, one inside of the other, and uses an explosive to short them against each other, creating a moving short circuit in the primary coil that amplifies the magnetic field and projects it outward.

I won't get into details, but it's not exactly rocket science to create something capable of hitting a few square miles. The problem is that every wire in the "blast" radius will be magnetized, and when those fields collapse shortly after the initial attack, power surges can damage systems miles away.

Ever heard of a W88 warhead?

IanSturgill

I agree. Most countries don't have the capability to launch any sort of attack on us. And if they did, i would hope our military would quash their efforts with multiple shows of gigantic force.

Cuatela

Sorry, but the F-105 was specifically designed to carry nuclear weapons. It had...one engine. (see this article for more information)

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Adonis1782

My thoughts on terrorism..... hhhmmmmm I believe our government uses so called "terror" alerts to try to keep the American people scared. Some would say it is quite similar to some of the scare tactics Hitler used in his days.

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MSD

Yes, our government is a bunch of Nazis.

squirrelyburt

They are able to reach us, even more scary if they sell or allow one of their devices to go to terrorists. They have missiles that can only go a few hundred miles, but they have ships, we have coastline. The U.S. can easily be reached from international waters.

buy candles.

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Charlatan

Come, come, that was a bit of a jump... Adonis didn't say they were Nazis they just use similar tactics... We all know that fear is used by governments, ad agencies, etc. to get people to do what they want them to do...

Whether Bush and Co. are doing this intentionally or not is the real question. Adonis seems to think yes and others no.

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Sleepyjack

This is like the plot of Goldeneye; they had an EMP satelite and were planning to put the world back to the stone age; just before robbing heaps of banks!

Albeit, that's a movie and James Bond saved the day anyway

Adonis1782

Thank you Charlatan. I believe our government uses many means, on purpose, to try to have supreme control of our lives.

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pattycakes

everything is terrorism anymore

its a bunch of bullshit to get out attention and make us fearful. dont get me started on how everything has be come terrorism. If you say ill kiull you all thats a terror threat now. Not just a threat a terroristic threat

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Phage

"Anymore" is not the same as "nowadays"!

Correct:
"Do they do this anymore?" <- This is asking if they do this "any more", or nowadays with an implied past.

Crazy Midland/Northern Irish Misuse:
"Everything is terrorism anymore." <- This makes no sense! "Any" and "more" make no sense when broken apart in this context!

/Pet peeve rant.

spindles

Didn't they use one of these thingys in the remake of Ocean's eleven? Drove it right where they wanted it in the back of a truck.

I believe that everything hollywood does is plausible

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