EMP/HEMP and GMS Attacks

ELECTROMAGNETIC PULSE

An Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) can be generated by a high altitude nuclear explosion (HEMP) and a Geomagnetic Storm (GMS) is induced by a Coronal Mass Ejections (CMEs) on the sun. Taken together, they are the two most likely threats that can completely devastate a modern society and transform it into a "New" Dark Ages. To understand the full range of consequences and damages associated with the detonation of an EMP device, or a severe GMS, one needs only to look at the current social economic conditions of today's modern society.

The physical and social fabric of the United States, and other developed nations is sustained by a complex and dynamic network of interlocking and interdependent infrastructures whose harmonious functioning enables the myriad actions, transactions, and information flow that undergird the orderly conduct of civil society in this country. The vulnerability of these infrastructures to EMP threats — deliberate, accidental, and acts of nature, is incredibly severe and has the potential to render this nation into a state of devastation, starvation and anarchy.

At Hardened Structures we provide specific hardening designs, fabrications, components, installation and construction services to mitigate the effects of EMP, HEMP, GMS, Blast, Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear weapons.

Electronics are used to control, communicate, compute, store, manage, and implement nearly every aspect of modern military and civilian systems. When a nuclear explosion occurs at high altitude, the EMP signal it produces will cover the wide geographic region within the line of sight of the detonation. For example, a nuclear explosion at an altitude of 100 kilometers would expose 4 million square kilometers, about 1.5 million square miles, of Earth surface beneath the burst to a range of EMP field intensities. This broad band, high amplitude EMP, when coupled into sensitive electronics, has the capability to produce widespread and long lasting disruption and damage to the critical infrastructures that underpin the fabric of U.S. society. In effect, water will cease running in about 24 hours and food will disappear from the stores within 3 days. Depending on the magnitude of the EMP or GMS event, this condition may persist from 6 months to 5 years.

HEMP

HEMP generation. HEMP is caused by a nuclear burst at high altitudes. Prompt gamma rays following the nuclear detonation are the principal source of HEMP. This gamma radiation causes bursts of electron flow from the Compton effect, a photoelectric effect, and a “pair production” effect. Of these three effects, however, the primary source of HEMP is the Compton effect.

Gamma radiation. At high altitudes (above 30 kilometers), the atmosphere is thin and thus allows gamma radiation from the nuclear burst to travel out radially for long distances. Below the center of the burst, however, the atmospheric density increases as the earth’s surface is approached. The prompt gamma rays propagate toward the earth in a thin spherical shell, moving at the speed of light away from the burst...

Compton scattering. When the downward directed rays encounter the upper regions of the atmosphere, they begin to interact with the atoms (or molecules) of the atmosphere at a rate which is a function of atmospheric density and burst conditions. The dominant interaction is Compton scattering, in which the energy of a gamma ray is partially transferred to an electron of an air atom (or molecule). The electron then begins traveling in approximately the same direction as the gamma ray. The other product of collision is a gamma ray of reduced energy. The spherical shell of gamma rays is converted during Compton scattering into a spherical shell of accelerated electrons.