Futureweapons on Discovery Channel

[SCOUT]

So I am watching this show and they did a piece on an electromagetic pulse (EMP) weapon. I have heard of these before and not just from Ocean's 11. However, they were saying that an EMP at the right height could effectively take out the electronics in the majority of the United States. Does anyone know if this a real possiblity or is it sensationalistic?

[Pricetag]

The army did some experiments in the '40s and '50s with hydrogen bombs. A very high yield weapon detonated at a very high altitude (we're talking 200 miles, I think) can cause some serious disruption. I think one of the tests at the Bikini Atoll affected Hawaii, however far away that is.

[usmc-sooner]

they have bombs that can disable the power, but to what extent I don't know

[SoonerInKCMO]

This looks interesting...

http://science.howstuffworks.com/e-bomb.htm

[SicEmBaylor]

I'm almost positive the military can already to this now without a problem, becuase I remember during the invasion of Iraq the military was considering the option of using an EMP to take out the lights in Baghdad instead of hitting the power stations with conventional ordinance which they'd just have to rebuild.

[nanimonai]

Here's another pretty good article:
http://www.globalsecurity.org/wmd/library/report/1988/CM2.htm

The idea of terrorists using a nuke for EMP purposes seems pretty unlikely and sensationalistic. The concept is pretty iffy even with all the expertise the U.S. and the Russians have, not to mention the fact that it requires a pretty sophisticated ICBM.

It'd be more realistic for Iran or China to try and disable a carrier battle group with an EMP in a war.

[Vaevictis]

From the information I read, what they ended up using in Iraq was more of a chemical style weapon than an EMP style weapon. The sense that I got was that it was a weapon that deployed a conductive or corrosive dust or foam like substance that got into electrical devices and shorted them out. I imagine it was especially effective against transformers (and other coil-devices), as if you short them out, you essentially black out everything on the other side of them.

I'd be more worried about attacks on the power infrastructure than on an EMP-style device. EMP style devices on the scale you're talking are extremely expensive and hard to come by, and it would probably be cheaper and easier to cause blackouts like the NE blackout a couple years ago, or the using the above mentioned weapons.

And truthfully, if I had access to one of those things, I'd be more inclined to use EMP weapons on communications satellites than stuff on the ground. :)