In the 1980s, people feared neutron bombs that could kill everyone but
leave buildings, roads, and cars intact. Today, we should fear a
different kind of nuclear threat that can instantaneously destroy power
grids, electronic systems, and communications along an entire coast but
spare people.
The Electro Magnetic Pulse (EMP) effect was first observed during the
early testing of high altitude airburst nuclear weapons. The effect is
characterized by the production of a very short (hundreds of
nanoseconds) but intense electromagnetic pulse, which propagates away
from its source with ever diminishing intensity, governed by the theory
of electromagnetism. The Electro Magnetic Pulse is in effect an
electromagnetic shock wave. This pulse of energy produces a powerful
electromagnetic field, particularly within the vicinity of the weapon
burst. The field can be sufficiently strong to produce short lived
transient voltages of thousands of Volts (ie, kilo Volts) on exposed
electrical conductors, such as wires, or conductive tracks on printed
circuit boards, where exposed.
The conceivable targets for an HPEM
attack could be telecom, radio/TV networks, power system network, air
traffic control, rail networks, banking and government administrative
networks etc..
The technology base which may be applied to the design of
electromagnetic bombs is both diverse, and in many areas quite mature.
Key technologies which are extant in the area are explosively pumped
Flux Compression Generators (FCG), explosive or propellant driven
Magneto-Hydrodynamic (MHD) generators and a range of HPM devices, the
foremost of which is the Virtual Cathode Oscillator or Vircator. A wide
range of experimental designs have been tested in these technology
areas, and a considerable volume of work has been published in
unclassified literature.
