Could North Korea Wipe out the U.S. with and EMP?

I think the real question here is:


Does some "Powers That Be" in this world have the capabilities to FAKE a false flag "North Korean" (yeah, sure) EMP attack on the continental USA?

I guess the answer is yes...

Now see, my mind wouldn't even go there, But good question.
A single EMP would overload a section of the grid. This in turn would black out everything attached, and take days or weeks to slowly bring the remaining systems back on line. This has to be done slowly to not re overload the system. Little real damage, but you could go to war with anyone after scaring people with that little ditty.
During the blackouts, transportation would be down, shipments etc. It would scare the stuffings out of the american people to see how there lives would be effected without food, water etc.

It would take at least 5 nuclear weapons to take out the Continental US and at least 9 to take out all of the US plus US Territories. major US military bases around the world.

In most of those cases they would take out a parts of a number of other countries.

But they would leave the US military nuclear capabilities untouched.

Maybe? Probably? Who cares? If they did, they... As in, the entire country would cease to be habitable for about 150 years. The real question knowing this fact then is.......... Would they?

Setting off a nuke in space wipes out tech, but gives no radiation or damage to structures. Let the population kill each other off searching for food and then move your army in to finish off the job a year later.

reply to post by winterkill


Although a Nuclear Detonation above the U.S. which would generate an EMP would cause damage to the Grid as well as waste a wide variety of anything electronic...it would be Highly Unlikely that a single missile launched by any Nation would be allowed to reach a position above the U.S.

Such a launched missile would be shot down well before it ever came close to U.S. territory by either SM-3 ABM's based on U.S. Navy ships at sea or on land or destroyed by several other types of U.S. ABM's one of which is mounted underneath F-15C's that are based in Alaska, California, Greenland, Maine, Massachusetts, Florida, Texas, Canada, Iceland, Diego Garcia, Guam, Japan, Midway, the U.K., Germany, Saudi Arabia and a few other places I can't remember off the top of my head,

Launching any type of Missile at the U.S. or U.S. Territories or Bases is a BIG DEAL and any Nation responsible had better be ready to have their Ass Handed to them. Launching a Nuclear EMP and actually having it Detonate is even Bigger a Deal and the mandated U.S. reponse for something like this is a Nuclear Strike of a Countries Military Bases and a strike of that countries Nuclear Sites as any Deep Underground sites would be targeted and hit with Deep Ground Penetrating Nuclear Missiles.

The reality is that North Korea does not posses either the tech. or the ability to even yet build a Nuclear Warhead that is small and light enough to sit atop it's very inaccurate ICBM's. The North has demonstrated that it's missiles are so inaccurate that when it test launches them other countries worry that such missiles could accidentally go so far off target that a missile that was targeting an area of ocean that would be 1000 miles off the coast of Australia could actually crash into an Aussie city and although not having a warhead obtain enough kinetic energy as to destroy several city blocks.

This is what the U.S. worries about if North Korea were to launch a missile over Japan...a Highly Provacative move made even more so with the possibility the missile could malfunction and hit a populated area of Japan.

If Japan was a U.S. State...you could bet your a#$ that if North Korea launched a missile over it the U.S. Military would shoot it down way before it came close to U.S. Territory.

Split Infinity

Originally posted by winterkill
Setting off a nuke in space wipes out tech, but gives no radiation or damage to structures. Let the population kill each other off searching for food and then move your army in to finish off the job a year later.

Id love to see the North Korean army "move in" too finish off America. It would be like 10x better than the zombie Apocalypse, hell, I'd throw a party man.

reply to post by Helious


You are living in FANTASY LAND if you even think there is even the tiniest of possibilities this could happen.

You would love to see this eh? Waht kind of person want's to see people dying in an invasion? I can tell you have never served and seem to have some convoluted ideas about the American People.

I bet my bottom dollar that if my Grandma was still alive...even at her extreme age...she would put you in a headlock and kick your ass for saying such a horrible thing. She like many Americans worked on the Manhatten Project along with my two Grandfathers and I can tell you now...if any of them heard you say what you did...you would soon have to go through life with the knowledge that a 110 year old woman taught you a lesson you would never forget!

Split Infinity

reply to post by winterkill


What makes you think no electronic toys = stone age?

We will be back to the 1970s or so.

reply to post by winterkill


It's all about getting money. The more tests they plan the more deals they can strike in order to get them to cancel those plans.

reply to post by Helious


Even if North Korea had enough nuclear weapons to try to hit the US with a massive EMP attack, there's no way in hell they could "move in" and finish off anything. They don't have any kind of airlift or sealift capability to reach anywhere.

No, that is not going to happen. It's meant for posturing and to get people fear based when they are currently waking up the real dilemna going on in the US regarding false flag murders in schools and all over the country and gun agendas.

Originally posted by Zaphod58
reply to post by Helious

 

Even if North Korea had enough nuclear weapons to try to hit the US with a massive EMP attack, there's no way in hell they could "move in" and finish off anything. They don't have any kind of airlift or sealift capability to reach anywhere.

*nod*

Even if DPRK could disable the western US mainland, they'd have to deal with the various and sundry naval and land military assets we have scattered around the globe. And, as stated above, they don't have the logistical capability to act upon the strategic advantage.

At this juncture, the only two nations I can think of that would have the capability to act in such circumstances would be China and Russia, and in both of those cases there are obstacles. For instance, in order for an invasion or sea-based missile assault to be conducted immediately following an EMP, they would have to have their forces in place or en route prior to the EMP being set off. With our satellite capabilities, I find it difficult to believe that a major naval fleet could steam towards our shores without detection. They could launch an EMP, then use submarines to launch tactical nuclear missiles to clear the way for ground invasion, but even that would be tricky at best.

Still, why would either of those candidates WANT to invade the US? In the case of China, we are the ones buying their exports (think WalMart). It would be virtual economic suicide on their part... And I seriously doubt Russia is up to the task. I believe that has been discussed ad infintum on this board.

A far more likely scenario would be tactical nukes and/or dirty bombs being used to clear the way for a Islamic jihadis to flood across the southern border into the US. An EMP could be used by DPRK as an aid; remember, there has been cooperation between them and Iran in recent months. And...the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Originally posted by stuntmanbob

Originally posted by jimmyx
no...the delivery device they would need to use, would be destroyed long before it got close to mainland america. i think what worries the western countries, not only america, is a space based weapons platform.

How can you be sure?

What if China and North Korea attack at once? And Russia?

And say there is some stuff hidden in South America....

How can you be sure the defense will work?

I was thinking more along the lines of that satellite they just launched that was supposed to be "messed up". That crosses CONUS if I am correct, and we don't just blow up every satellite that passes over us. Why couldn't a satellite carry an EMP device, even a satellite that performs some other function? It could zip happily around the globe for months or years waiting for the trigger signal as opposed to an ICBM that we would try to hit as it was approaching us.

Who knows what is in the one they launched recently? But, I would think it could spin wildly out of control as long as it stays in orbit and still remain viable. I may be wrong, but I would think an upside-down EMP device would be just as effective.

reply to post by KaiserSoze


Because if it's tumbling it would have to be on a timer. A tumbling satellite means that the radio antenna rotates as well so receiving a detonation signal would be a matter of chance as opposed to timing. The problem with the timer is that electronics have a tendency to break down in space due to solar particles, and depending on height, the Van Allen Belt. So unless you build one that's pretty well shielded, which means bigger and heavier, then you are taking a chance with the timer too. It could go off early, or it could go off late, or not at all.

Sure they could. But our weapons systems are hardened against such an attack and about 37 minutes later, N. Korea - or whoever was dumb enough to pull such a stunt, would be a glass-lined hole in the ground!

I'm sure the retaliatory measures that they would face is enough of a deterrent to make anyone think twice.

The real question is, can North Korea afford an EMP?

reply to post by winterkill


Please remember that the Korth Koreans had a great deal of difficulty just getting a 3-stage rocket to work once. Their earlier attempts went kablooie. Given the fact that any such device just being launched at the USA would probably provoke a violent response that might leave the wretched country as a giant glowing hole in the ground, they're not as stupid as to even think about it.

Two things I want to touch on.

1. The U.S. can't just go bomb the snot out of N Korea if it does EMP us. Why?
South Korea, China and all of the other people who would get the radiation fallout. China would not take it well to seeing that prime real estate unusable.

2. If we lost our electricity, some think that would stick us back to the seventies, not the stone age.
At the moment, all of our supply lines, vehicles, communications, food transport, medical supplies ...and the list goes on, are all reliant on what would be destroyed in an EMP. You saw how long it took the gov to respond to Katrina with supplies and vehicles intact. Think how long without. Anarchy would reign within weeks, not to mention disease and the like.

Do not fool yourself into thinking the gov can be there for you.

The book One Second After is a great insight, albeit in novel form, into what life would be like after an EMP.