An EMP is a broadband, high-intensity, short-duration burst of electromagnetic energy.
In military terminology, an EMP bomb detonated hundreds of kilometers above the earth's surface is known as a high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) device.
Electromagnetic Pulse Still a Risk Three days ago, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said it could take months for new UN sanctions against Iran. Today, The Wall Street Journal reports that, in addition to China, the Obama administration is increasingly worried about gaining the support of other members of the U.N. Security Council
Effectively, the U.S. would be thrown back to the pre-industrial age following a widespread EMP attack.”Congress has already begun to address this threat. They created the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse EMP Attack, who has since issued reports in 2004 and 2008. The Commission concluded: “EMP is one of a small number of threats that can hold our society at risk of catastrophic consequences.”
Basically a nuclear detonation produces an EMP it acts like a giant wave and travels line of sight which with a ground burst limits the effects of EMP to about 15 miles. With an air burst an emp can affect a much larger area the higher you are the greater the line of sight. The direct damage cause by the blast of nuclear detonation in the upper atmosphere would zero, radiation would be minimal and would be quickly dispersed. The damage comes from the elector magnetic wave traveling at light speed, the wave travels so fast and with so much electromagnetic energy that it shorts everything in its path and I mean everything. As few as 3 HEMP detonations could effectively blanket the whole country taking down the grid and making every electrical component of modern life a paper weight.
All of this would happen instantly just milliseconds from detonation. Planes would fall from the sky every car and truck would stop in its tracks gas water and electricity would cease to flow. Only hardened electrical devices would survive and not all of those, this means no help from the government the military or from anyone within line of sight of the blast.
Portions or even all of the U.S could be instantly transported back to 1880’s technology with none of the infrastructure or technology in place or more importantly the general knowledge to live without our modern devices. The secondary effect of this would be millions of deaths from starvation and from the lack of shelter and medical care; this doesn’t even consider the effects of the possible breakdown of social order.
This is really a very simple and easy way to take out a country or several countries it’s low cost and can be done with a limited technological base it just requires a very few or even one nuclear weapon lofted into the upper atmosphere.
An attack such as this has been studied and reported to congress as usual they have ignored the warnings and in reality it would be very hard to stop such an attack if well planned and executed with the covert assistance of any of the major or even not so major powers.
If you haven’t heard of it theirs a novel that came out last year by William Forstchen called “One second after” it’s a decent read and uses the premise of just such an attack on the U.S. as the basis for the story. Check it out.
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