EMP Missile Warheads - The Beginning?

[fiat_knox]

Raytheon Planning Missiles That Fry Electronics With Energy Beams​

Admittedly, they are talking about using microwaves or radio waves to fry electronics, rather than an actual EMP - which, to date, can only be generated by a nuclear detonation of some sort.

According to the blurb, "It's not had much luck strapping microwave weapons onto drones, but that's definitely a goal for the service, as is a missile that would fry all electronics in a given radius. And Raytheon rival BAE is even building a microwave gun for ships."

So, perhaps not yet.

But soon.

 

[Spinward Scout]

I read an article a bit back that was talking about some people think one of the 'failed' North Korean test missiles wasn't a fail, but a test of an EMP bomb. The article said the bomb had a gamma ray signature, which it said could be used to knock out a power grid.

 

[altasilvapuer]

I read an article a bit back that was talking about some people think one of the 'failed' North Korean test missiles wasn't a fail, but a test of an EMP bomb. The article said the bomb had a gamma ray signature, which it said could be used to knock out a power grid.

You should read One Second After by William Forstchen, sometime. Interesting novel about a theoretical doomsday-type scenario where EMPs knock out the US from seaboard to seaboard (or seem to, at least; modern communication has a nasty way of being tied to electricity, so one never knows)

-asp

 

[Enoki]

The problem with an emp weapon is that transmitted electrical power falls off as a square of distance so you have virtually none in a very short space.... At least in an atmosphere....

As another oddity they came up with they invented active chaff. These were little mylar "paper" helicopters that had a tiny broadband radio transmitter on them. They could receive a signal and then retransmit it slightly out of phase with the original.

 

[saundby]

Actually, non-nuclear EMP weapons have been around--in R&D at least--since at least the early 80s. I recall one early test where they knocked out the electronics of all the cars in the company parking lot when their shielded test area turned out not to be as shielded as they thought. It spilled over to a public area outside company grounds a bit, too. Whoops.

Current work is more along the lines of a long wave DEW using an antenna array, but as small as possible. Being able to put more watts in a specific area makes for a far more practical device.

AW&ST's been covering this stuff pretty well.

In competition are the systems that use the enemy's antennas against them. Network intrusion has been pretty successful so far. Folks who do that don't want weapons that fry the front ends of their targets.

 

[Blue Ghost]

Heh, for a minute I thought we were mounting computer stores on our birds; Fry's Electronics.

 

[Spinward Scout]

Heh, for a minute I thought we were mounting computer stores on our birds; Fry's Electronics.

That joke needs a rimshot! :rofl:

You should read One Second After

Another one I hear that's good is called Lights Out. Rumors are going around that somebody is making it into a movie.

 

[saundby]

I see now why Raytheon is getting some media attention about this work. Unfortunately, most of the common media are missing the point about what's special about it.

As I mentioned above, there's been a lot of this work going on for quite some time.

What's been holding things up as far as deploying directed energy weapons is that these systems have been competing against other types of systems for limited funds. Whenever a showdown between, say, a new DEW weapon and a new kinetic weapon or advances on an existing weapon system, the DEW weapon doesn't win. DEW weapons have done OK, but not great, for R&D funding, but getting into production has been an obstacle.

That's because the DEW weapons suddenly need not only funding for the DEW itself, but for all the infrastructure that goes with it--delivery system, guidance, launcher, etc., etc.

What Raytheon has done is sidestep that problem by developing a modular DEW warhead that will go on any of a number of standard weapon systems. HARM, MALD-V, and Tomahawk have been mentioned for starters as systems that could use the warhead.

Then, if these warheads prove useful enough and show enough promise, there may be support down the road for building a more capable purpose built DEW system.

So that's where Raytheon's (or at least their recent acquisition KTech's) genius lies--in producing a standardized ~50lb. DEW warhead that can be used in existing weapons systems, packing all the energy-storage, release, and control systems into a small package for an effective (presumably) non-kinetic weapon.

 

[BytePro]

Yep - various means of EMP have been known for a while - with speculation indicating the Soviets were quite effective with this tech (R&D wise) back in the day.

Something compatible with existing delivery systems could certainly make DEW's competitive with traditional kinetic kill systems (for funding as well as effectiveness).