Not too difficult. In the 50's and 60's both the US and the Soviets investigated EMP bombs. For instance: http://www.futurescience.com/emp/test184.html
>From http://www.futurescience.com/emp.html: The Mark 18 bomb, tested in 1952, was also known as the super or alloy bomb. It was made of a spherical shell of very highly-enriched uranium surrounded by a sophisticated symmetrical implosion system that was 44 centimeters in thickness. Although it is often described as a very advanced device, it was designed by people who did not have computers of a power that is anything even approaching the power of computer that you are using to read this web page. More than a half-century ago, at least 90 of these bombs were built by the United States. In 1952, they were trying to conserve the highly-enriched uranium in the stockpile, so the Mark 18 was surrounded with a natural uranium tamper. Anyone making a similar weapon for EMP use could probably enhance its EMP effects by using a tamper made of enriched uranium and using a relatively thin outer casing made of a relatively gamma-ray-transparent high-strength alloy. In addition, there are techniques for increasing the energy of the gamma rays beyond the levels available in first and second generation nuclear weapons. These techniques would increase the electric field of the EMP at least somewhat beyond the old maximum of 50,000 volts per meter, although we don't know by how much. Today, if just one of these 500 kiloton bombs like the Mark 18 were detonated 300 miles above the central United States, the economy of the country would be essentially destroyed instantaneously. Very little of the country's electrical or electronic infrastructure would still be functional. This is not to say that every device would be destroyed, but the interdependence of different electrical and electronic infrastructures makes it possible to stop nearly all economic activity with only limited damage to critical infrastructures. It would likely be months or years before most of the electrical grid could be repaired because of the destruction of large numbers of transformers in the electric power grid that are no longer made in the United States. Several countries today have the ability to produce a weapon similar to this 1952 bomb, and send it to the necessary altitude. (England tested a single-stage weapon with a yield of 720 kilotons, called Orange Herald, on May 31, 1957.) The number of countries with this ability will undoubtedly be increasing in the coming years. On Wed, Oct 23, 2013 at 12:17 PM, Bruce Sorge <sor...@gmail.com> wrote: > > I know this is all stuff of television shows, but seriously, what are the > chances of something along the lines of Dark Angel? You know, an > electromagnetic pulse weapon detonated in the atmosphere and wiped out the > vast majority of computer and communication systems. From that you have > anarchy, then were ripe for the pickings. I realize this is pretty > simplistic, but you get the idea. I have not really looked into the > concept, but I am sure someone on this list has. > > > On Oct 23, 2013, at 12:09 PM, LRS Scout <lrssc...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > > On a nuke level maybe, neither has anything approaching the lift or float > > capability to come here in anywhere near the numbers that would be needed > > to do anything. > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:368078 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
