The Threat of High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulses: Why it Should be Keeping Combatant Commanders Up at Night

Abstract

High Altitude Electromagnetic Pulse (HEMP) poses a serious and credible threat to U.S. forces. Research and analysis of current HEMP defenses and contingency planning revealed that U.S. forces are not equipped adequately to survive a HEMP attack and rely too heavily on a vulnerable civilian infrastructure for daily operations. In addition, no process exists for periodic testing of equipment. Further, operational forces do not minimize risk by preparing adequately for post-HEMP attack consequence management. Therefore, Combatant Commanders should assess and wargame OPLANS and develop adequate contingencies for wide spread electronic failure of "non-essential" electronic equipment in the event of a HEMP attack.

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Document Details

Document Type
Technical Report
Publication Date
Oct 23, 2009
Accession Number
ADA514001

Entities

People

  • Douglas W. Fletcher

Organizations

  • Naval War College

Tags

Communities of Interest

  • Air Platforms
  • Biomedical
  • Energy and Power Technologies
  • Ground and Sea Platforms
  • Materials and Manufacturing Processes
  • Sensors
  • Space

DTIC Thesaurus Topics

  • Aircrafts
  • Altitude
  • Combatant Commanders
  • Communication Systems
  • Contingency Operations (Military)
  • Department Of Defense
  • Electromagnetic Pulses
  • Electronic Equipment
  • High Altitude
  • Infrastructure
  • Military Operations
  • Military Personnel
  • Personnel Management
  • United States
  • United States Pacific Command
  • War Colleges
  • Weapons Effects

Readers

  • Joint Military Operations and Doctrine.
  • Optical Fiber Sensing and Electromagnetic Propagation.
  • Strategic Security Studies

Technology Areas

  • Microelectronics