Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Day of the e-bomb

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Thu, 20 Mar 2003 22:10:56 -0500

Day of the e-bomb

March 21 2003

The war now under way in Iraq could be won by a new secret weapon - a bomb that kills no
one but
destroys the enemy by "decapitating" its central electronic command, control and
communications
systems.

Iraqi President Saddam Hussein's military electronic eyes and ears could be blinded within
72 hours,
leaving Baghdad highly vulnerable to the invasion teams as they dash across the desert to
capture
the capital.

The bombs that don't kill and will introduce a revolutionary form of warfare are called
electro-magnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons. They radiate an
intensely focused and gigantic shock-wave of electricity, like a million lightning bolts
hurled at one
target in a fraction of a second. The effect is to fry the electrical innards of
computers, radio electrical
wires, antennae, communication systems, mobile phones - anything that runs on electricity.

The US Air Force has successfully tested an explosive generator that launches one billion
watts of
power in one-millionth of a second.

An HPM pulse moves so quickly that its speed is measured in hundreds of pico seconds
(one-trillionth of a second), it attacks and destroys before ordinary surge protectors
have time to
react.

Australia and Britain have made substantial progress in developing an operational HPM
weapon.

The EMP effect was discovered by accident in 1962 during US atmospheric testing of nuclear

weapons. When a bomb exploded 400 kilometres above Johnston Island in the Pacific, 30
strings of
streetlights went out in Hawaii and burglar alarms were triggered. High-frequency radio
communications as far away as Australia were blocked for about 30 minutes.

Some official documents on progress were published over the years but since September 11,
the
Pentagon has carefully tried to weed out most documents on the public record relating to
EMP and
HPM research and development.

We began our research a year earlier and discovered the queen of the radiated weapons
technology
is US Air Force Colonel Eileen Walling. In the late 1990s she was director of the air
force's high power
microwave program. In a seminal paper written for the air force in February 2000 Colonel
Walling let
several cats out of the bag by publicly admitting: "The stage has already been set for the

introduction of microwave weapons into the US military inventory."

She confirmed that high-power microwave weapons would be perfect for the modern
battlefield,
which had become a "target-rich" environment for these new bombs. "Except for the standard
rifle,
gun, knife and grenade, virtually all military equipment contains some electronics," she
said. Then, in
what seems to have been a security lapse, she revealed: "High-power microwave technology
is ready
for the transition to active weapons in the US military."

Colonel Walling also revealed that the air force was already (even then) working to
activate such
weapons. The range of catastrophic effects produced by high-powered microwave weapons in
various electronic equipment was neatly acronymed as D4 - deny, disrupt, damage and
destroy.
Because the pulses do their damage from the inside out it means they do not physically
destroy the
target, nor do they require deadly precision in targeting. They also have a much larger
"footprint"
than ordinary weapons.

The favourite delivery systems remain cruise missiles, conventional bombs and,
increasingly,
unmanned, remote aircraft. One delivery problem remains that at the moment, neither the
cruise
missile nor the unmanned aircraft can be saved from the "fratricide" effect. In other
words the
delivery vehicle's electronic systems are destroyed when the weapon is launched.

The Walling paper remains the bible of the new weapons systems, but ask for an interview
with
Colonel Walling today and an embarrassed Pentagon would no more give the press access to
her
than detail the battle order for the defence of the United States.

Defence Secretary Donald Rumsfeld has refused to confirm or deny that the new weapons
would be
used in any war with Iraq.

But William Arkin, a former US Army intelligence analyst who has also studied the record
said: "Yes,
the US has the weapons; they've been developed in 'black' programs, budgets undisclosed,
and they
will be used in the war against Iraq. Targets will include electrical switch yards and
transformers."

The high-powered pulses enter solid state electrical equipment through sockets that house
antennae
or the inlet wires that power the equipment. It is almost impossible and ferociously
expensive to
shield against the rays. The deadly pulses also find scores of other conduits such as
power and
water lines, vents, cracks and seams underground in their hunt for targets. The jargon for
that is
"force multiplier". In plain English you get a big bang per buck, in theory achieving
enormous,
targeted damage with one weapon.

It is believed the US has about a dozen of these weapons in advanced development stage and
ready
for use. Britain, too, has been testing similar RF (radio frequency) weapons. The Russians
and
Chinese are also well advanced, but very little is known of their programs.

The new weapons would almost certainly be used first against Saddam's weapons of mass
destruction, namely the chemical and biological storage, manufacturing and missile-launch
facilities.
Frying the electronic controls (even ruining the refrigerators that keep the deadly
bacteria and
viruses alive) would eliminate both the need for conventional bombs to attack these sites,
and the
real danger that plumes of deadly biological agents could be sent into the air and lethal
clouds could
drift for kilometres,infecting innocent civilians and friendly forces.

The American technological breakthrough was pioneered in a top-secret building called The
Trestle,
in a canyon in the Manzano mountains in the south-east of the triple-guarded High Energy
Research
and Technology Facility at USAF base Kirtland, New Mexico. The facility has a four-storey
laboratory, 24 metres by 45 metres with a 1.2 metre deep concrete roof and walls for blast
and
radiation shielding.

US Commander General Tommy Franks is now faced with a dilemma. On the one hand there is
the
highly tempting option - access to some experimental weapons that should have a
devastating effect
on the electrical innards of everything touched by their invisible pulses. It could
prevent the
nightmare of prolonged urban street fighting in Baghdad, involving hand-to-hand combat and

endless sniping in the crowded alleys of the big city. Bad for the victims, bad for the
politicians, bad
for public opinion.

If General Franks orders the use of the new weapons, and they work as planned, Saddam's
defence
forces will be partially paralysed; unable to communicate properly, to launch missiles,
use their
computers or phones - nothing that really matters will work properly. That scenario could
result in
the allies walking into Iraq's capital city without serious opposition.

We have learned that a targeting debate has been running within the US Air Force about the
wisdom
of using HPM weapons to destroy Saddam's national computer network, which runs military
applications in his command and control bunkers but is also tied into civilian
applications.

US air force specialists are concerned that the effects of a pulsed weapon attack on the
network
could affect automatic teller machines in France. It was the French who helped Saddam
install the
main computer networks that play a major part in his air defence system. Destroying those
communications links could have ripple effects in France.

There will probably be a targeting compromise by which mainly regional command and control

centres (two north of Baghdad, and some recently moved to Saddam's home town of Tikrit)
will be
blitzed by the HPM bombs while Baghdad centre may be dealt with in other ways.

But once the decision to use the weapons has been made the first targets will be the
bunkers hiding
weapons of mass destruction and their allied electronic systems - wherever they are.

The collateral damage of using these weapons in towns and cities remains potentially huge.

After the bombs have been dropped, car engines will splutter and die, traffic lights and
burglar alarms
go haywire, public transport grinds to a halt, telephone relays, television and radio
communications
and the internet will go silent. Water, sewage and fuel distribution systems controlled by
electrical
pumps and computers will cease.

Emergency fire, police, civil defence and medical response units will lose communications
and some
mobility. Circuits in offices, banks and stores will fry and the acrid smell of burning
plastic will be
pervasive. The regional power grid will be an early casualty.

Towns and cities could temporarily be reduced to the horse-and-cart age. There will
inevitably be
deaths.

Those in favour of the use of these weapons argue that all wars have collateral damage,
and the gain
in this case will be worth the pain if Iraq falls within days without protracted street
fighting that will
claim hundreds of innocent lives anyway.

The temptation for General Franks to take a gamble and pray the smart weapons don't behave

stupidly may be overwhelming.

The stakes are very high.

Tom Mangold and Jeff Goldberg are authors of Plague Wars, published by Macmillan.

This story was found at: http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/20/1047749878235.html

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From: "Paul Holliday" <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 21 Mar 2003 09:49:24 -0500

The US said that that "E" bomb would be one of the first bombs used BUT it
has not been used because we are listening to all Iraq's transmissions &
getting valuable information.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Marcel" <[email-masked]>
To: <[email-masked]>; "WFHSG" <[email-masked]>
Sent: Thursday, March 20, 2003 10:10 PM
Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Day of the e-bomb

> This story was found at:
http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/03/20/1047749878235.html

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