Beijing develops pulse weapons

[July16th-20th]

Source: Washington Times

China's military is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons that Beijing plans to use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, according to an intelligence report made public on Thursday.

Portions of a National Ground Intelligence Center study on the lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse (EMP) and high-powered microwave (HPM) weapons revealed that the arms are part of China’s so-called “assassin’s mace” arsenal - weapons that allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces.

EMP weapons mimic the gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast that knocks out all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas. The phenomenon was discovered in 1962 after an aboveground nuclear test in the Pacific disabled electronics in Hawaii.

The declassified intelligence report, obtained by the private National Security Archive, provides details on China’s EMP weapons and plans for their use. Annual Pentagon reports on China's military in the past made only passing references to the arms.



Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/jul/21/beijing-develops-radiation-weapons/

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Fuck Iraq. Fuck Afghanistan. This is the national security issue we OUGHT be attending to!

[TexasProgresive]

1. Cleaver and how are they going to generate this pulse and

how are they going to protect their electronics from it?

[kentauros]

32. Two ways I know to generate the power for the pulse:

Large-scale capacitor banks (we're talking Gigawatts to Terawatts here) more likely used for land-based weapons. The other way would be portable, using something called a "homopolar generator." Basically, it's a disc-motor where the kinetic energy is utilized when stopped abruptly, causing the kind of electic pulse necessary to create a NNEMP (Non-Nuclear Electro-Magnetic Pulse)

Protection comes in the form of a Faraday Shield. Our military has been doing this kind of thing for decades. They have probably honed the technique to a science by now, beyond the simple Faraday cages used by experimenters and industry.

[saras]

34. There's a third method that works better

It involves using explosives to move a coil and magnetic field relative to each other.

[kentauros]

36. I remember readeing that

but couldn't remember what it was called, so I left it to someone else to remember :)

[iamthebandfanman]

2. we have been working on this stuff too

infact weve been working on defensive pulse weapons ('force fields'/ or 'shields' if your into star trek )

[Ghost Dog]

3. Do you mean 'national' or 'imperial' security? n/t

[goforit]

4. Doesn't the US have their own? In addition to HAARP?

2012... myth or fact?

[oldhippydude]

5. Sandia labs

in Albuquerque have been working on this for years... in semi plain site..

[Ichingcarpenter]

6. The rightwing Moonie Times and Bill Gertz

Do you know this is the same guy that said Russian Special Forces moved
Saddam's weapons of mass destruction out of Iraq into Syria ?

You need better news sources than this proven liar.

[Ichingcarpenter]

7. The reporter is a proven liar and a war monger

His stories and the paper have no credibility. .... unrecorded.

[FreakinDJ]

10. You doubt China is Stealing Islands from the Philippines $ Vietnam for OIL

You better think again

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x4929871

[liberalmike27]

11. "Stealing" is a strong word

They'd probably call it "developing."

Michael Klare has written some nice works on oil, water, and minerals' shortages. The Oceans, to some extent, are up for grabs.

And WTF are we doing in Iraq, or Afghanistan, right? Where is the next source of easily obtainable oil? The Caspian Sea Region, which happens to be just to the North of the crap-hole we find ourselves engaged in now. So it's really hard to call them out on trying to find oil in their waters, when we're halfway across the world, pretending we're doing something good, but in fact just putting our oil companies in charge of Iraq's oil, and sapping away 90 percent of the profits from a devastated country that needs the money.

[FreakinDJ]

12. I'm not suggesting the "Pot and the Kettle" are not both black

China had ZERO interest in the islands off the Philippines until oil was found there and the Philippine signed contracts to develop the site.

And it is just by coincidence China decided to build 2 aircraft carriers too

Funny - when we signed the Free Trade agreement with China allowing them to charge a 20% tariff to America's 2% tariff, the reasoning cited was because China was a developing country. Developing Country alright - except now they are using the proceeds from those lopsided trade deals to finance land grabs from trully impovershed countries like the Philippines.

I only follow news and events from the area because I have lived and worked in the Philippines, Korea, and Tokyo

[Ichingcarpenter]

13. And you give credence the Washington Times as a source

you better think again. The reporter works for the Heritage foundation.

[FreakinDJ]

14. When I stay at our house in Cebu Philippines, I watch the local news

http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/nation/06/16/11/china-sends-out-patrol-ship-amid-territorial-disputes

You should be more concerned why the American National News Media has blacked out this story

But I will say this - this country would be a LOT better off if more people spent a little time out side the country and learned what it is like in the rest of the world

[Ichingcarpenter]

15. The story is about Pulse weapons

claimed by the reporter ... your story is something else.
which I don't deny on the China sea .




Plus I do live outside of the US

The Moonie Times for god's sake..... is like WND.
The reporter is a proven liar.

Its about this story not your story.

[FreakinDJ]

17. Agreed

I put it together with a story I read the other day about China commissioning a couple of Air Craft Carriers.

For the record China has meddled in Philippine affairs for a very long time, even funding the NPA (New People's Army). It originally was a bunch of college students protesting Marco's refusal to step down. When Reagan was shaking hands with Marcos, he was having his troops use machine guns to disperse the protesters in Cebu. Of course American Media reported the "Use of Water Cannons"

[A Simple Game]

27. The Moonie Times is NOT like the WND.

The WND is entertaining. I used to buy it once in a while just for fun.

Is it still being published? I haven't seen it in stores lately.

[sulphurdunn]

20. The only logical reason

I could ever come up with for the Vietnam war was control of the South China Sea. That control necessitated a naval base at Cam Ranh Bay to compliment the one at Subic Bay in the Philippines. Cam Rahn Bay was also necessary to establish a permanent land presence on the Asian Mainland.

[FreakinDJ]

31. Why - at the time we had 2 Major Bases in the Philippines

had Ronald Reagan not befriended Marcos so much during the masive demonstrations in the Philippines protesting Marshal Law, Corruption, and Marcos Cronies in every level of Philippine Government - we would still have those Bases

[sulphurdunn]

35. The fall of South Vietnam

would have opened Cam Rahn Bay to a strategically unacceptable Soviet naval presence, which is what eventually happened. At that time the presence of a Soviet fleet challenged US hegemony in the region. Today US naval vessels have access to Cam Rahn and to Haiphong to counter growing Chinese territorial claims.

[thelordofhell]

8. Is there a new round of military appropriations bills coming up?

This propaganda crap about the "military" capabilities of other countries always come up when our military is about to ask for more money from Congress.

[FreakinDJ]

9. Got that "Warm Fuzzy" over Free Trade now

Glad to know your dollars went to finance this shit

[legin]

16. Hand held

for use against effing drones.

Cost about $100 - $150 and you got a sale.
(I'll save up)

[Hubert Flottz]

18. Bob Dole's little blue pills develops pulse weapons...

And the GOPers want to use them on anyone who will hold still for it.

[babydollhead]

19. it probably won't even work.

It might work a few times and then break.

[AtheistCrusader]

21. "Lethal effects of electromagnetic pulse"?

bahahahahaahaaaa

[nebenaube]

22. Tell that to the goats and the Russian lab tech...

It can fry the nervous system.

[AtheistCrusader]

23. Through deck and hull plates?

At sea? From land? lol.

Potentially lethal to electronics I suppose, but we (especially the navy) go to great lengths to shield such equipment.

[David__77]

24. They've been at this for some time.

The US has nothing to worry about as long as it doesn't interfere in China's affairs and launch aggression. This is not the old cold war. EMP weapons has a distinctly defensive capability. Aggressors wouldn't like them because it disables their ability to launch aggression.

[NickB79]

25. Destroying a US aircraft carrier is a quick way to get a few major military bases flattened

Nuclear or otherwise, the US counter-attack would not be a pretty sight to behold if you live on the Asian continent. An EMP weapon does fuck-all against a stealth bomber or ICBM.

[A Simple Game]

28. We couldn't win a war in Asia, certainly not against China.

We can barely hold our own in Afghanistan against an enemy that has no army, air force or navy.

[NickB79]

29. Not without the use of nuclear weapons.

When the Chinese entered battle in the Korean War, the generals on the ground were screaming to use nukes.

[A Simple Game]

30. I also remember a couple of years ago, maybe five that a Chinese

sub surfaced in the middle of one of our fleets that where on maneuvers or during war games or some such thing. Took us completely by surprise.

We did not know it was there until it surfaced. Heck of a way to deliver a pulse weapon. Maybe a test run?

I still like to think we would be sane enough not to start a nuclear war. Then again there are people that think one side or the other wins a conventional war. No one wins a war, period. Some one may come out on top, but no one wins.

[AndyTiedye]

26. Why Would China Attack What They Already Own?

[daleo]

33. I wish people would work on pulse crops instead.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(legume)

It would be so much healthier.