I have talked about Electro-Magnetic Pulse (EMP) with a few of my friends to see if they knew if the threat Iran poses is real or not an none of them had even heard of it. Since neither my friends nor I knew anything about it, I decided to do a little reading up on it and ad it to the site.
A while back I received a newsletter that talked about EMP as a very real threat to the USA if Iran was allowed to continue building a nuclear bomb. The article talked about the devastating effect an EMP, exploded high above the US, would have on our electrical grid. It spoke of basically leaving much of the US without electricity for up to a year or more.
In 1962 the US did a small nuclear test above the mid-Pacific called “the Starfish Prime” which knocked out 300 street lights and damaged a telephone companies microwave link. This is what wikipedia has to say about that test:
“The EMP damage of the Starfish Prime test was quickly repaired because of the ruggedness (compared to today) of the electrical and electronic infrastructure of Hawaii in 1962. Realization of the potential impacts of EMP became more apparent to some scientists and engineers during the 1970s as more sensitive solid-state electronics began to come into widespread use.”
Today with our “non-ruggedness” electrical infrastructure we are open to a very real threat. So, while back in 1962 they didn’t view it as a very big deal, with new calculations in-hand, the article goes on to say:
“Newer calculations[8] showed that if the Starfish Prime warhead had been detonated over the northern continental United States, the magnitude of the EMP would have been much larger (22,000 to 30,000 volts/meter) because of the greater strength of the Earth’s magnetic field over the United States, as well as the different orientation of the Earth’s magnetic field at high latitudes. These new calculations, combined with the accelerating reliance on EMP-sensitive microelectronics, heightened awareness that the EMP threat could be a very significant problem.”
“…The United States EMP Commission has brought together a group of notable scientists and technologists to compile several reports. In 2008, the EMP Commission released the Critical National Infrastructures Report.[28] This report describes, in as much detail as practical, the likely consequences of a nuclear EMP on civilian infrastructures….
Common misconceptions
- The only defense against nuclear EMP is a ballistic missile defense system. The fact: Although an anti-ballistic missile system can be a component of protection against nuclear EMP, it is seldom mentioned in the writings of scientists or the testimony of members of the United States EMP Commission. The experts on the EMP problem tend to concentrate upon making electronic equipment and electrical components resistant to EMP and upon keeping adequate spare parts on hand, and in the proper location, to enable prompt repairs to be made.[18][28]
- Nuclear EMP is not a problem because there are ways to protect against it. The fact: Although there are ways to protect against nuclear EMP (or to quickly begin repairs where protection is not practical), the United States EMP Commission determined that such protections are almost completely absent in the civilian infrastructure of the United States, and that even large sectors of the United States military services were no longer protected against EMP to the level that they were during the Cold War.[28][43] The United States EMP Commission did not look at the civilian infrastructures of other nations.”
As you can see, much of this was taken directly from the wikipedia website. I have attached the image they have in their article showing that if the bomb was detonated 480 miles above the USA it would wipe out our electrical infrastructure, where as if it was exploded at an altitude of only 30 miles it would have less of an impact.
Just thought I would share this with our readers. I don’t know about you, but think I’ll say a few prayers tonight for our leaders. – Dave
