-Caveat Lector-

In the blink of an eye, electromagnetic bombs could throw civilization
back 200 years.
And terrorists can build them for $400.

BY JIM WILSON Lead illustration by Edwin Herder

The next Pearl Harbor will not announce itself with a searing flash of
nuclear light or with the plaintive wails of those dying of Ebola or its
genetically engineered twin. You will hear a sharp crack in the
distance. By the time you mistakenly identify this sound as an innocent
clap of thunder, the civilized world will have become unhinged.
Fluorescent lights and television sets will glow eerily bright, despite
being turned off. The aroma of ozone mixed with smoldering plastic will
seep from outlet covers as electric wires arc and telephone lines melt.
Your Palm Pilot and MP3 player will feel warm to the touch, their
batteries overloaded. Your computer, and every bit of data on it, will
be toast. And then you will notice that the world sounds different too.
The background music of civilization, the whirl of internal-combustion
engines, will have stopped. Save a few diesels, engines will never start
again. You, however, will remain unharmed, as you find yourself thrust
backward 200 years, to a time when electricity meant a lightning bolt
fracturing the night sky. This is not a hypothetical, son-of-Y2K
scenario. It is a realistic assessment of the damage the Pentagon
believes could be inflicted by a new generation of weapons--E-bombs.

The first major test of an American electromagnetic bomb is scheduled
for next year. Ultimately, the Army hopes to use E-bomb technology to
explode artillery shells in midflight. The Navy wants to use the
E-bomb's high-power microwave pulses to neutralize antiship missiles.
And, the Air Force plans to equip its bombers, strike fighters, cruise
missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles with E-bomb capabilities. When
fielded, these will be among the most technologically sophisticated
weapons the U.S. military establishment has ever built.

There is, however, another part to the E-bomb story, one that military
planners are reluctant to discuss. While American versions of these
weapons are based on advanced technologies, terrorists could use a less
expensive, low-tech approach to create the same destructive power. "Any
nation with even a 1940s technology base could make them," says Carlo
Kopp, an Australian-based expert on high-tech warfare. "The threat of
E-bomb proliferation is very real." POPULAR MECHANICS estimates a basic
weapon could be built for $400.

ILLUSTRATION BY JOHN BATCHELOR

An Old Idea Made New The theory behind the E-bomb was proposed in 1925
by physicist Arthur H. Compton--not to build weapons, but to study
atoms. Compton demonstrated that firing a stream of highly energetic
photons into atoms that have a low atomic number causes them to eject a
stream of electrons. Physics students know this phenomenon as the
Compton Effect. It became a key tool in unlocking the secrets of the atom.

Ironically, this nuclear research led to an unexpected demonstration of
the power of the Compton Effect, and spawned a new type of weapon. In
1958, nuclear weapons designers ignited hydrogen bombs high over the
Pacific Ocean. The detonations created bursts of gamma rays that, upon
striking the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere, released a tsunami
of electrons that spread for hundreds of miles. Street lights were blown
out in Hawaii and radio navigation was disrupted for 18 hours, as far
away as Australia. The United States set out to learn how to "harden"
electronics against this electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and develop EMP weapons.

America has remained at the forefront of EMP weapons development.
Although much of this work is classified, it's believed that current
efforts are based on using high-temperature superconductors to create
intense magnetic fields. What worries terrorism experts is an idea the
United States studied but discarded--the Flux Compression Generator (FCG).

A Poor Man's E-Bomb An FCG is an astoundingly simple weapon. It consists
of an explosives-packed tube placed inside a slightly larger copper
coil, as shown below. The instant before the chemical explosive is
detonated, the coil is energized by a bank of capacitors, creating a
magnetic field. The explosive charge detonates from the rear forward. As
the tube flares outward it touches the edge of the coil, thereby
creating a moving short circuit. "The propagating short has the effect
of compressing the magnetic field while reducing the inductance of the
stator [coil]," says Kopp. "The result is that FCGs will produce a
ramping current pulse, which breaks before the final disintegration of
the device. Published results suggest ramp times of tens of hundreds of
microseconds and peak currents of tens of millions of amps." The pulse
that emerges makes a lightning bolt seem like a flashbulb by comparison.

An Air Force spokesman, who describes this effect as similar to a
lightning strike, points out that electronics systems can be protected
by placing them in metal enclosures called Faraday Cages that divert any
impinging electromagnetic energy directly to the ground. Foreign
military analysts say this reassuring explanation is incomplete.

The India Connection The Indian military has studied FCG devices in
detail because it fears that Pakistan, with which it has ongoing
conflicts, might use E-bombs against the city of Bangalore, a sort of
Indian Silicon Valley. An Indian Institute for Defense Studies and
Analysis study of E-bombs points to two problems that have been largely
overlooked by the West. The first is that very-high-frequency pulses, in
the microwave range, can worm their way around vents in Faraday Cages.
The second concern is known as the "late-time EMP effect," and may be
the most worrisome aspect of FCG devices. It occurs in the 15 minutes
after detonation. During this period, the EMP that surged through
electrical systems creates localized magnetic fields. When these
magnetic fields collapse, they cause electric surges to travel through
the power and telecommunication infrastructure. This
string-of-firecrackers effect means that terrorists would not have to
drop their homemade E-bombs directly on the targets they wish to
destroy. Heavily guarded sites, such as telephone switching centers and
electronic funds-transfer exchanges, could be attacked through their
electric and telecommunication connections.

Knock out electric power, computers and telecommunication and you've
destroyed the foundation of modern society. In the age of Third
World-sponsored terrorism, the E-bomb is the great equalizer.

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