Yuwipi Woman
Whack-A-Mole Queen
Naming them after oil companies would probably be more honest.
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an electromagnetic pulse attack on the usa could kill 90% of americans
- Thread starter Pickman's model
- Start date
Naming them after oil companies would probably be more honest.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
All sufficiently technologically-advanced societies (for which we can also read "technology-dependant) are vulnerable.
Back in the '70s and '80s the Soviet Union used to regularly get laughed at when we stole schematics for their latest tanks and planes, because of what we saw as a "backward" reliance on pre-transistor (i.e. valve) technology.
Of course, what we weren't bearing in mind was that valve tech is significantly harder to fritz with EMP.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
EMP can also be caused using standard lab equipment. Scale that up, and you only need to "crash" one major population centre for the effect to start the dominos falling.
likesfish
You can't park here sir
But thats not why they were using it they couldnt make microprossesors worth a damm.
Once nukes start flying if you fighter jets radar still works is a bit moot really.
Corax
Luke 5:16
Aye. I've always thought the *realistic* threat from EMP was far less the Hollywood scenario of an atmospherically exploded nuke, but much more realistically a small home made device in the back of a van and activated in a strategic location. As earlier links have shown, small scale stuff like that could be built in someone's garage without too much difficulty if they had the wit and desire.
Govt agencies must be aware of the threat and so have plans in place - but I'm not sure what preventative steps there are other than shielding everything with lead* or something?
*IANAS
weltweit
Well-Known Member
I know there is such a thing as military grade electronics, or hardened electronics, (tougher than consumer grade) I assume such circuits provide better than normal protection against things like this.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Last article I read about this was about 10 years ago (which got picked up on and used to provide a storyline for an episode of "NCIS: Los Angeles" a couple of years ago) pretty much reckoned that given the sheer dependence on micro-electronics technologies, it's almost impossible to "harden" the comm-tech infrastructure against EMP. Prevention is basically Faraday caging, but while that might be feasible (although incredibly-expensive) for server farms etc, it's not as feasible for infrastructure like water purification plant or traffic control.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Better, but not "proof" against it, and it's usually a combination of hardened components and shielding.
Corax
Luke 5:16
Why so expensive? I've got one in my kitchen...
Crispy
The following psytrance is baṉned: All
Whereas protective measures against solar storms can be made. We see an approaching CME before the charged particles get here. In that time window, we can disconnect transmission systems from delicate equipment, preventing the cables from acting as receivers.
We monitor the sun pretty well for these events, but there is no coordinated global system for getting systems safed in the event of a Big One.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
I can imagine it now: 'The Wal Mart launched a cruise missile attack against Kabul today...'
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Reminds me of a story about how NASA spent millions developing a pen that would work in the zero-g of space.
The Sovjets just bought pencils.
Were they using valve technology with hardening against EMP in mind?
dylanredefined
Not a house elf a tiger
And then went with space pens anyway turns out graphite specks in zero g are really bad.
8ball
As seen on TikTok
That an optimistic* assessment. I think it more likely they would act like a total basket case.
* - For certain values of 'optimistic'.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
likesfish
You can't park here sir
I wonder why, drawing with a pencil on the ceiling seems to work well enuff.
Its not zero g and your not living in a hermatically sealed tin can thats trying to kill you every second with new and intresting ways for equipment to fail
likesfish
You can't park here sir
Which Works just as well if you plan involves genocide having your potential victims even having suffered a catastrophic surprise attack able to hit back with over 2000 nuclear weapons and absoultely no reason not to go all out your attempt at genocide is possibly best left in the drawer rather than acted on.
8ball
As seen on TikTok
I'm going to need some commas before I can even get started on that.
Johnny Canuck3
Well-Known Member
Something about their plan doesn't seem to have worked out, though.
camouflage
gaslit at scale.
Its not zero g and your not living in a hermatically sealed tin can thats trying to kill you every second with new and intresting ways for equipment to fail
joke old bean.
tim
EXPLODED TIM! (Help me!!!)
Corax
Luke 5:16
It's an urban myth, but a nice fable nonetheless.
SpineyNorman
Inappropriate content removed
Let me get this straight - some greybeard twat has identified a massive weakspot - a vulnerable underbelly that, if successfully targeted, will result in the end of America as we know it and kill 90% of the population. So they decide to tell the whole world about it.
Can't fault the logic there
Can't fault the logic there
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Chinagraphs/grease pencils rather than graphite pencils, though.
Well, we in the west claimed it was because they couldn't fabricate semiconductors/ICs for shit, but that's not accurate - they just couldn't miniaturise to the same degree, and they were quite aware (given the fact that any attempt to invade Europe could mean using small nukes as "battlefield" weapons in Germany) that they'd lose their own comms-infrastructure if that happened, so I'm not convinced by the story that use of valve tech was down to them not being able to fabricate teeny-tiny integrated circuits. Tanks with valve radio systems would be more likely to be able to communicate post-blast than with micro-electronics comms sets, for example.
ViolentPanda
Hardly getting over it.
Because a Faraday cage good enough to withstand the electromagnetic pulse from even a sub-kiloton nuclear blast nearby has to have a bit more metal to it than the ring circuits and earth bonds in your kitchen.
It's one of those cases of "the more, the merrier".
dylanredefined
Not a house elf a tiger
Let me get this straight - some greybeard twat has identified a massive weakspot - a vulnerable underbelly that, if successfully targeted, will result in the end of America as we know it and kill 90% of the population. So they decide to tell the whole world about it.
Can't fault the logic there
Fortunately not really any way to create that sort of EMP without rockets and nukes. Which puts it in the field of states rather than terrorists. As their is a world shortage of super villians at the moment you really can go back to worrying about gamma bursts from outer space. As ways end life as we know it.
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