North Korea is EMP Capable

[Guest Bronker]

Electronic Warfare: North Korea Nears Completion of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb - ABC News

By JOOHEE CHO

North Korea Nears Completion of Electromagnetic Pulse Bomb

N. Korea Disrupts Current Military Maneuvers With Russian Device To Jam GPS

SEOUL, South Korea, March 9, 2011

North Korea appears to be protesting the joint U.S. and South Korean military maneuvers by jamming Global Positioning Devices in the south, which is a nuisance for cell phone and computers users -- but is a hint of the looming menace for the military.

Since March 4, Pyongyang has been trying to disrupt GPS receivers critical to South Korean military communications apparently in protest of the ongoing joint military training exercises between South Korean and U.S. forces. Strong jamming signals were sent intermittently every five to 10 minutes.The scope of the damage has been minimal, putting some mobile phones and certain military equipment that use GPS signals on the fritz.

Large metropolitan areas including parts of Seoul, Incheon and Paju have been affected by the jamming, but "the situation is getting wrapped up, no severe damage has been reported for the last two days," Kyoungwoo Lee, deputy director of Korea

Communications Commission, said. The jamming, however, has raised questions about whether the Korean peninsula is bracing for new electronic warfare.

The North is believed to be nearing completion of an electromagnetic pulse bomb that, if exploded 25 miles above ground would cause irreversible damage to electrical and electronic devices such as mobile phones, computers, radio and radar, experts say.

"We assume they are at a considerably substantial level of development," Park Chang-kyu of the Agency for Defense Development said at a briefing to the

parliament Monday. Park confirmed that South Korea has also developed

an advanced electronic device that can be deployed in

times of war.

The current attempts to interfere with GPS transmissions are coming from atop a modified truck-mounted Russian device. Pyongyang reportedly imported the GPS jamming system from Russia in early 2000 and has since developed two kinds of a

modified version. It has also in recent years handed out sales catalogs of them to nations in the Middle East, according to South Korea's Chosun Ilbo.

North Korea Jams GPS Signals in Ominous Threat of More to Come

Major Korean newspaper editorials today called the recent jamming a "wake-up call," pointing out that consequences could be severe if North Korea succeeds in discharging full-fledged electromagnetic waves. On top of disrupting major communication tools used by both civilians and the military, the waves would affect financial transactions and civilian airplanes dependent on radio signals.

"The problem could be further exacerbated by the fact that our military equipment increasingly relies oncommercial GPS standards," wrote JoongAng Daily, one of South Korea's largest newspapers.

This is the second time North Korea has sought to interfere with military communications. Pyongyang is thought to have been behind a failure of GPS receivers on some naval and civilian aircraft during another joint military exercise in August.

South Korea's minister of defense at that time had reported to the Congress, warning that the North poses "a fresh security threat" capable of disrupting guided bombs and missiles by sending signals over a distance of up to 60 miles.

Some modern weapons are equipped with an alternative guided system in addition to GPS, which means the bomb would find its way to the target even if it loses contact with the satellite. But the Korean military weaponry still largely remains

vulnerable to GPS jamming signals, said Kwon Oh-Bong of the Defense Acquisition Program Administration, answering questions from concerned politicians at a parliamentary working session Monday.

"Because we have a special code for the military, it is unlikely to be affected by such an attack, but there are some weapons that do not require a special code, so we are researching preventive measures," he said.

U.S. Forces Korea spokesman David Oten declined to assess the effects, saying it is a matter of intelligence but added in an e-mail response that they are conducting extensive analysis of potential threats and ensured that "United States forces operate using multiple, redundant navigational systems and train extensively to operate in a contested electronic environment."

Euri Son and Esther Kim contributed to this article.

[Guest bkelm18]

Well that's never good.

[G27]

Now THAT'S good news!

{/sarcasm}

[Raoul]

I'll sleep better tonight.

[Guest yardmaster]

I need one of those to keep my granddaughter off the texting machine and back to her schoolbooks...

[Guest GT_Rat]

"United States forces operate using multiple, redundant navigational systems and train extensively to operate in a contested electronic environment."

Translation - "Yeah, we got an app for that."

[DaveTN]

So? ….It won’t stop a Trident II missile.

[vontar]

boogers

[mikegideon]

The bomb is easier to build than the delivery vehicle. As I understand it, they have decent bomb capabilities, and are weak in long range missles. here's a good EMP map...

[vontar]

Time to stock up,

Do we have enough for the nation yet? I am sure we will by the time they can get one over here.

[Guest Bronker]

Time to stock up,

Do we have enough for the nation yet? I am sure we will by the time they can get one over here.

Wanting to build a Faraday cage, or are you just being sarcastic and short-sighted?

[mikegideon]

There are better materials than aluminum

[Caster]

Yeah I hear the delivery vehicle is powered by an Atari 2600.

[Magiccarpetrides]

Just chuck your Ipad/Ipod/netbook/cell phone/etc in your microwave at night and sleep soundly lol.

[Oh Shoot]

Yeah I hear the delivery vehicle is powered by an Atari 2600.

That's less than what was on board the first moon shot. Seriously.

- OS

Edited March 11, 2011 by OhShoot

[bigbabysweets]

I had heard somewhere that even the shuttles we send into space now have less technology/computing power than alot of 90's model vehicles. The astronauts even use a sextant and navigate celestrially.... Kinda off subject and not 100% on accuracy.........

How could I check my tngunowners forums!?!?!?!? I grew up in the country without power/running water/ or dependence on anything a EMP could damage when I was a kid.... some of my best years actually....

[creeky]

I did that with my old cell phone, called it and it didn't ring... pulled it out and it started ringing.

Did the same "trick" with my new phone to show a friend... it rang inside the microwave.

Weird.

[G27]

Microwave ovens only shield - tada! - microwaves. The holes in the screen dictate the smallest wavelength it will block.

IOW, an EMP would easily swamp anything inside a microwaves...

[Guest bkelm18]

A faraday cage might keep your cell phone nice and protected, but you can't build a faraday cage around the cell towers and all the other equipment it takes to run a cellular network.

[mikegideon]

Microwave ovens only shield - tada! - microwaves. The holes in the screen dictate the smallest wavelength it will block.

IOW, an EMP would easily swamp anything inside a microwaves...

Not so sure about that. It's going to have X amount of attenuation. Damage to circuits from EMP is complex. There ARE EMP proof enclosures, and it's nothing more than shielding. I'm sure there's filtering on any outside wiring as well, but the primary mechanism is shielding.

[RobertNashville]

If you want to be scared shi***ss and haven't read it yet, read "One Second After"...totally fictional storyline of course BUT based on real-world facts about EMPs and what an EMP strike could do.

Being prepared for a potential EMP strike is something the Federal government should be doing instead of arguing over funding NPR (defunding NPR should not require discussion! ).

[DaveTN]

Being prepared for a potential EMP strike is something the Federal government should be doing ).

What makes you think they aren’t?

[RobertNashville]

I'd recommend you read the book or at lest check out Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack, Volume I, Executive Report 2004 available here: Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack

That report is not encouraging - virtually none of our modern electronics are hardened against EMP and as far as I can tell, nothing substantial has been done to change that since the above report was presented. Maybe there is some top-secret government program to save some of our assets...but most of our asses would be in a sling if we were hit with an EMP.

Edited March 19, 2011 by RobertNashville

[vontar]

Wanting to build a Faraday cage, or are you just being sarcastic and short-sighted?

Sarcastic as normal

As for most of our Satellites in orbit, like the Hubble get launched with 386 processors., on one of the missions, it was repaired in 1999, it was upgraded from a 386 processor to a 486 processor.

Hubble telescope gets Intel 486 upgrade ? The Register

Intel kept making i386 processors until just a few years ago embedded systems and aerospace technology

Intel 80386=

I think now they still don't use any thing faster then a 486 in space. I have over the years heard a couple reasons for this and I believe it requires extra shielding from space radiation that interferes with the smaller microprocessors in the 586 and higher.

Allot of our

[Guest Bronker]

If you want to be scared shi***ss and haven't read it yet, read "One Second After"...

Dude, I haven't slept soundly since reading it.

As real as it gets, I'd say. A real eye-opener.