USAF Devises EMP Cruise Missile.

The USAF is developing a new system to disable electrical systems by the use of a directed EMP in a cruise missile.:
defensetech.org...
This would be an effective method that could black out an area for an easier penetration of combat forces.I wonder if they will use it in drones as well?

EMP is the weapon of the future. All those other high tech weapons are worthless without their circuit board.

reply to post by cavtrooper7


Do EMP's effect only solid state devices or do they harm relay logic as well?

reply to post by SolaFide

Circuits can be shielded,our space systems have that ....and Clinton sold that tech to the Chinese for their space program so they have it too.This would knock out most chips and overload capacitors that aren't milspec.

EMP cruise missiles have been around since the 70s. Any nuclear attack on a nation say like Russia, would begin with EMP strikes usualy from submarines in range, as a prelude to the incoming ICBMs.

I would have guessed they have had that tech for awhile now, in addition to ship/plane/sub launched EMP capable munitions, but it's probably like all things military, we only hear about them decades down the road.

I thought that nukes automatically generate an EMP pulse upon detonation. Seems unlikely that they would launch an EMP strike before an actual nuke strike when the results would be similar to electronics.

I wonder what kind of damage this CHAMP system would do to a random unnamed countrys nuclear research facility would be.......solely electronics damage or radiological release as well?

Thanks for the reply/info cav

surely any battle ready equipment would be EMP shielded ?
Its not like this is a new warfare scenario is it ?

CHAMP's not EMP, it's HPM. So you don't get a single wide-band 'blurt' of RF as it blows up, it can fly around and hit more than one target.

A point to note is that you can also do the same thing with some of the newer fighters that have Raytheon's AESA mounted. They just don't talk about it much.

edit to add: if you're just after taking down power distribution we've had cruise missiles that can short out power like you wouldn't believe

reply to post by Bedlam


Elaborate on HPM would you?

reply to post by cavtrooper7


High Power Microwave.

There are a number of techniques to generate microwaves with high continuous power (instead of in bursts like a radar), Raytheon is the reigning champ of that with their AESA system. AESA radars can do a LOT of tricks, but one of them is burning targets with the array. You can "zap" enemy fighters or their missiles with the radar system (including and not limited to the pilots, but I digress). This is not advertised very much, but they can all do it.

One can also sort of loiter around the battlefield and smoke ground based missile launchers, ships at sea and whatnot. Very nice. They're getting better at it all the time. One Raytheon system uses AESA modules to defend airports against MANPADS. There's a nice animation of it on the net somewhere - I think the project codename was Vigilant Eagle.

This is a cruise missile with an AESA-like array, not used for radar but designed for the burning electronics part. So it's optimized for zapping. As opposed to, say, a one-shot vircator strapped to an FCG which would be more of a real EMP weapon.

reply to post by Bedlam


There is a theory that the X-47B will have a similar weapon. It is supposed to go through anechoic testing, and they are planning on testing it at 10 times normal levels, as compared to other carrier based aircraft. The thinking is that it's going to have a high powered microwave system eventually installed.

reply to post by cavtrooper7


the type of directed emp you are refering is narrowband HPM(involves use of microwaves to fry hardened electronics like nuclear warheads).

Russians developed the virtual cathode ray oscillator with the aim of neutralizing hardened satellites,missiles and aircraft. Sinus-6 was an example of such russian engineered which USA studied and reverse engineered.
www.projectworldawareness.com...
Debka made a claim that russians have satellites armed with narrowband HPM bombs meant to neutralize the trident missiles and satellites.Also there are rumor of terrawatt/petawatt HPM and even higher magnitude HPM weapons in russian arsenal,but in my opinion it would be overkill and would neutralize all hardened electronics.The megawatt class Ranet-E will suffice for cruise missiles .

reply to post by Bedlam


news.bbc.co.uk...

spectrum.ieee.org...

www.geocities.com...

reply to post by Zaphod58


This is a rumor I heard too.But then there is a rumor that the shuttle was carrying satellite bombs to target other nation's satellites.

reply to post by Bedlam


I believe in the western world its rheinmetall and BAE which has developed HPM artillery and ranets-e type systems respectively.

In Russia its almaz,Rosatom and other defence corps working on it if i am right.

reply to post by ludwigvonmises003


Right, as the articles you posted say, e-bombs are one shot vircator/fcg jobs while HPM is more like this CHAMP system by Boeing.

reply to post by Bedlam


Ranets-E is a continous system. Check it. Even Sinus-6 was capable of continous modes.

And HPm devices are one shot as well as continuous. Similiarly they are capable of broadband and narrowband.

Originally posted by ludwigvonmises003
reply to post by Bedlam

 

I believe in the western world its rheinmetall and BAE which has developed HPM artillery and ranets-e type systems respectively.

In Russia its almaz,Rosatom and other defence corps working on it if i am right.

BAE was definitely the biggie in HPM for a while, although IIRC most of their stuff is one-shot. Thorn EMI Defense was where BAE got most of their start, because Thorn was doing all the research prior to the merger.

There are a multitude of approaches to this, from GaAs to FELs and CARMs, to the one-shot explosives powered EMP weapons. USAF's been farting around with CARMs on a plane at KAFB for years now, from frying up personnel on the ground to electronic warfare.

reply to post by Bedlam


Russian devices were not explosive driven.Electrical in nature.

Originally posted by ludwigvonmises003
reply to post by Bedlam

 

Ranets-E is a continous system. Check it. Even Sinus-6 was capable of continous modes.

And HPm devices are one shot as well as continuous. Similiarly they are capable of broadband and narrowband.

edit on 3-7-2012 by ludwigvonmises003 because: (no reason given)

Something small enough to stick in a cruise missile that can do CW HPM is the trick. Especially something frequency agile like an AESA array. If you know what the narrowband frequencies are you're up against, it's easier to harden against. Also broadband devices do not have the power output per MHz of band that a narrow band device can have. It's like a needle vs a boxing glove.

The one-shot ones tend not to do continuous very well. Unless a few ms is continuous.