[Air-l] e bomb

[Jillana Enteen]

Here's something directly relevant, both on the war front and in relation to
electronic technologies (Air-l "concerns").

I'm as speechless as I can ever be, David. After speaking out on campus
(Northwestern Univ) numerous times and hoping that something could keep the
attack at bay. Now, I forward.

I will be out, though, in the coming days, attending demonstrations that I
find out about, as you note, through www networks and email activism.

Hoping this ends immediately,
jillana

U.S. May Use 'E-Bomb' During Iraq War
2 hours, 45 minutes ago

By MATT CRENSON, AP National Writer

U.S. forces may use a new "e-bomb" during the expected
invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) as part of a 21st
century blitzkrieg designed to render Saddam Hussein
(news - web sites)'s forces blind, deaf, dumb and
incapable of retaliation.

 

The highly classified bomb creates a brief pulse of
microwaves powerful enough to fry computers, blind
radar, silence radios, trigger crippling power outages
and disable the electronic ignitions in vehicles and
aircraft.

"They would be useful against any adversary that is
dependent on electronic systems," said Loren Thompson,
a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute, a
think-tank based in Arlington, Va.

In modern warfare, electronics undergird virtually
every weapon more sophisticated than a rifle or hand
grenade. For that reason, Air Force scientists have
worked for decades on a practical way of producing
powerful but brief pulses of microwaves that can
incapacitate electronic equipment without damaging
buildings or harming people.

Officially, the Pentagon (news - web sites) does not
acknowledge the weapon's existence. Asked about it at
a March 5 Pentagon news conference, Gen. Tommy Franks
said: "I can't talk to you about that because I don't
know anything about it."

However, military analysts say a number of
unclassified documents suggest such a device is ready
for the battlefield.

"There's been a lot of discussion behind closed doors
in the Pentagon and in the trade press that these
things are now being tested," Thompson said.

According to a 2000 report by Air Force Col. Elaine M.
Walling, scientists at Kirtland Air Force Base in New
Mexico have created microwave sources that generate up
to 10 times the amount of energy that Hoover Dam
produces in a day.

Such powerful pulses can incapacitate electronic
equipment without damaging buildings or harming
people, making them an attractive weapon whenever
civilian casualties are a concern.

In laboratory tests, microwave pulses can melt silicon
chips, pushing their circuits far beyond their
capacity to conduct electricity. But on the
battlefield, even the most impressive e-bomb's effects
rapidly diminish with distance. Although e-bombs'
capabilities are classified, military analysts believe
their range is a few hundred yards at most.

That relatively short range decreases the odds that
hospitals, orphanages and other civilian
infrastructure will be affected, unless they are
directly adjacent to or networked with military
targets.

"I think it is almost always more humane to use this
compared to a conventional weapon," Thompson said.

The bombs' effects are also hard to predict, analysts
say. The surge of electricity produced by a microwave
pulse could go directly to the nearest bank of
military supercomputers, or it could just as easily be
shunted harmlessly into the ground.

"The effects are hard to focus. The moment the energy
is absorbed into wiring or other electrically
conductive material you don't know where it's going to
go," Thompson said.

Those uncertainties and others may prevent e-bombs
from playing a major role in the anticipated U.S.
offensive against Iraq, said Lt. Col. Piers Wood, a
military analyst at the defense policy think-tank
globalsecurity.org.

"There will be a few commanders who will see these and
get to try them out," Wood said. "We're not talking
about arsenals of these things."

Defense experts are particularly eager to see if
e-bombs can reach into deep underground bunkers that
could otherwise be neutralized only by tactical
nuclear weapons. By shutting off the electricity, a
microwave weapon could render a bunker uninhabitable
by disabling lighting, security systems, ventilation
and computers.

 

Eventually, Wood said, other nations may acquire high
power microwave weapons; American forces, which depend
so heavily on technology, would be particularly
vulnerable to them. He predicted that soon all
military electronics will have to be protected from
high power microwaves by metal casings, with
sophisticated circuit breakers connected to any
incoming wires.



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