Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to It's been part of tactical military planning for decades, both for offense and defense.

"none of it seems to be trickling down to civilians"
TB — (archived)

My point exactly. I'm glad our military is defending itself, but it's like making the firehouse fireproof and ignoring the rest of the town.

Given the oncoming proliferation of nuclear devices, an EMP attack will become frighteningly probable. It's actually the other end of the scale from a neutron bomb--a weapon that destroys only the machinery of civilization. The enemy stands by while things fall apart at the hands of Americans themselves.

We would be handicapped in retaliation--if we use conventional nuclear weapons to respond, with Hiroshima results, we would be the barbarians. Burned out computers and dead cars don't balance well against children with their skin falling off. Hit North Korea with an EMP ourselves? And burn out what?

We badly need to keep up our missile defense programs. Only a space-based EMP bomb can take out large sections of a country at the same time. A localized EMP attack, like on a coastal city from a ship-based weapon, would be a disaster, but the rest of the country would still be able to race to help.

This should be combined with an ongoing civilian shielding and system backup program, beginning with critical node points and working outward over time.

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