India developing E-bomb to paralyze networks

The Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) is developing an E-bomb which will emit electromagnetic shock waves that destroy electronic circuits and communication networks of enemy forces, its chief and scientific advisor to the defence minister Avinash Chander said.

So next time there is a Kargil or a LoC violation, you may not hear gunshots or mortar shells, because the electromagnetic bomb will throw life out of gear.

“It will be a weapon that would explore the strong electromagnetic field generating a brief but intense or high power pulse of electromagnetic energy,” Chander told TOI at the Missile Complex in Hyderabad. He said the spectrum of targets will be broad and in times to come, E-bombs would form the core of tactical warfare and electronic combat operations to damage the command, control and communications of enemy forces.

The director general of DRDO said that the electromagnetic shock wave from the bomb will destroy electronic circuits and communication network “while paralyzing them in terms of radars, communication networking, information gathering sensors, controls and other electronic equipment.” Work is in full swing at the Research Centre Imarat, the Hyderabad-based laboratory of DRDO, to build the new bomb which will be ready for operational deployment within a few years.

Chander said the E-bomb would give an option to the military as the bomb can target the enemy’s mobile targets, air defence systems, mobile or static radars, naval vessels with communication systems and even ill-shielded communication or electronic systems at a military base. The GPS-guided E-bombs would precede the conventional munitions for strategic air attacks and can cripple military units as weapons of electric destruction

by releasing high voltage pulses. Other DRDO officials said the E-bomb warheads can be delivered by combat aircraft equipped to deliver guided munitions and cruise missiles.

Chander also said DRDO was developing the next generation of smart bombs or guided bombs, which would have a longer range of upto 100 km (starting from 10s of kms)

and higher accuracy. “Smart bombs are basically precision guided munition equipped with electronic sensors, control system and adjustable flight fins for providing steering or gliding capacity to hit a designated target with much more accuracy,” the DRDO chief said.

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How will these weapons be used during a war ? Can it paralyze entire cities ? or can it be dropped on incoming tank formations to cripple its systems ?