EMP - PRACTICAL PROTECTION

An atomic bomb exploded high over the center of the North American continent would damage delicate, unprotected electronic devices from the Atlantic to the Pacific, from the middle of Canada to the middle of Mexico.  Iran is planning just such an attack.  The  word May 27, 2005 is that Iran is now equipped for an atomic weapon, news that reportedly stunned President Bush.  The "possibility" has now turned into a "probability," not if, but when we get hit with a terrorist EMP bomb.  It is for that reason that major US ports have, or soon will have, radiation detection equipment for scanning all inbound ships.

Nuke Over U. S. Could Unleash Electromagnetic (EMP) Tsunami

"Project STARFISH PRIME is probably the most famous test shot in EMP lore because it burned out street lights in Hawaii at a slant range of 800 miles, but it was a high altitude detonation (about 240 miles up).  STARFISH was 1.4 Mt; a larger bomb at higher altitude would reach out farther. 

Conversely, a surface burst also creates an EMP, but the pulse is very quickly attenuated.  Depending on the size of the burst, the pulse could be gone in 10-30 miles, depending on the size of the yield.  It's not as much the pulse that's being attenuated, but the ionizing radiation (which creates the pulse) that's stopped fairly quickly in the lower atmosphere."   Ikstrums, Sept. 2, 2005

A surprise EMP attack could well destroy all exposed electrical equipment, including generators, and leave the country in the dark for decades. The electrical infrastructure would fail, of course, but so would the banking system, virtually all transportation, the pumping of fuel, etc.  In short, our country would be reduced to 1870's technology almost instantly.  But individuals can prepare now, while there is still time.

"EMP effects go beyond damaging equipment. They also disrupt the ionosphere severely, which affects RF propagation of several radio bands for anywhere from one hour to over a day. Projects TEAK and ORANGE (high altitude, 3.8 Mt each) disrupted a Navy VLF comm link that was 3,000 miles away at the closest point to the blasts.

"But there's also good news here. VHF and UHF transmissions are typically line-of-sight and not impacted by ionospheric disturbances, assuming the equipment survived the initial blast and pulse. Among other things, the 2 m and 70 cm amateur bands would be functional after a blast."   Ikstrums, Sept. 2, 2005

"The electromagnetic field pulses produced by weapons designed and deployed with the intent to produce EMP have a high likelihood of damaging electrical power systems, electronics and information systems upon which any reasonably advanced society, most specifically including our own, depend vitally," Wood said. "Their effects on systems and infrastructures dependent on electricity and electronics could be sufficiently ruinous as to qualify as catastrophic to the American nation."   EMP Warning, June 20, 2005   An Iranian political-military journal, in an article entitled "Electronics To Determine Fate Of Future Wars," suggests that the key to defeating the United States is EMP attack: "Advanced information technology equipment exists which has a very high degree of efficiency in warfare. Among these we can refer to communication and information gathering satellites, pilotless planes, and the digital system.... Once you confuse the enemy communication network you can also disrupt the work of the enemy command and decision-making center. Even worse, today when you disable a country's military high command through disruption of communications you will, in effect, disrupt all the affairs of that country.... If the world's industrial countries fail to devise effective ways to defend themselves against dangerous electronic assaults, then they will disintegrate within a few years.... American soldiers would not be able to find food to eat nor would they be able to fire a single shot." (Tehran, Nashriyeh-e Siasi Nezami, December 1998 -January 1999) (Click here for the entire article.) For more information on EMP, please see the following articles on this web site: Building Faraday Cages;  Iran plans to knock out U.S. With 1 nuclear bomb;   America in the dark,  Ex-CIA chief warns of EMP nuke threat, and Nations Planning an EMP Attack.