If other countries have the technology to launch an EMP...?

Question

Ten miles off of our shores, and I heard it was legal for them to get this close to our shores, then why aren't we doing more to change international laws so that our country can be protected? It seems as if the big shots in the White House are not even interested in protecting the American people! I have heard that this technology has the ability to knock out the power for a long time coast to coast. Is this true?

Answer 1

EMP technology does more than that: it fries every semiconductor in the area of effect, and the area is very large. One EMP warhead airburst at 20,000 feet AGL over, say, Fort Knox, would have an AOE covering most of the USA east of the Mississippi. Three warheads could make Europe go dark. The primary deterrent to launching such an attack against any of the big boys (US, constituents of the former USSR, France, UK, China) is the ballistic missile submarine. EMP does not penetrate the ocean. EMP is, after all, a thermonuclear warhead (but of the fF instead of fFf type).

In other words, they are doing the only thing they can: maintaining the submarine leg of the triad.

Answer 2

During the cold war EMP was first discovered. After realizing what could happen from a nuclear weapon detanated in space the military hardened a lot of systems. For nations the idea of a single EMP being met with a full scale retalitaly nuclear strike is to much, for terrorists why would they care. The US should take the EMP threat seriously, and begin to hardern or shield key communications, and emergency centers from EMP blasts.

Answer 3

Our territorial water extend much farther than 10 miles. Excluding areas like navigable straits like the Florida Keys, it is a 100 or 250 miles if memory serves. It's just that waters tend to only be patrolled closer to the coast, but we claim jurisdiction for quite a ways.

An EMP (ElectroMagnetic Pulse) is part of a nuclear explosion. There are other ways to generate weak EMP's, but there is not much weapon value to this type of laboratory exercise. Yes, an EMP will cause most electronics to become permanently disabled. Most communication equipment, cars, computers, and the power grid would all become inoperable. Life would cease to exist as we know it, and social upheaval would follow within hours or days.

This is the main reason why the Industrial nations are working so hard to keep nuclear weapons away from nations with delusions of grandeur like North Korea and Iran, and the suicidal wack-a-doos like Al-Quaida.

Answer 4

I'm not an expert in EMPs, but the limit for approaching the shore is 12 miles, which I suspect would approach the effective limits of an EMP. I don't believe it's possible to cause nationwide effects from a single EMP incident, although of course it's possible to launch several simultaneoulsy. But what prevents it is te same as what prevents other attacks, the probability of retaliation.

Answer 5

yes it is true EMP burst can knock out anything with a microchip that is not EMP hardened im not so sure if it would have the range to do coast to coast as for that you would have to have about four nuclear warheads detonated at various points above the USA to get far reach effect but it could still cause a lot of havoc for you! This is reason Russian Army equipment does not rely on lots of electric circuits, many of planes still have vacuum tubes and such, old fashioned, but easier to fix if it break!!!

Answer 6

We can't prevent all ships from getting within 10 miles off our shores? How are we going to trade with anybody? There are way to many ships off our coasts to protect them. Any random boat can hit us with an EMP/missile attack. So unless we prevented all boats from getting within hundreds of miles from us, then there is nothing that we can do.

Answer 7

yeah it's true but at this moment nobody has been able to control it to be use for that purpose.EMP waves are produce during nuclear explosions, thunderstorms and by the solar radiation waves.the first country to be able to use EMP waves and can control them will rule this world as the same with the first country produced the atomic bomb in the past.

Answer 8

i can not agree more that we need to make the distance farther than 10 miles i would make it 25 miles that way we could have a change to that all moves to make our shores safe

Answer 9

you cant protect space