10 Gigawatt Briefcase Bombs available on Market

   From AAP, 23jan98

   THE Federal Government yesterday declined to confirm or deny Swedish
   reports that the Australian Defence Force had purchased a Russian
   electronic "bomb" that uses high-power microwave signals to knock out
   jet fighters computers.

   In a brief statement yesterday, Defence Minister Ian McLachlan,
   however, admitted that Australia had an interest in such technology.

   "The Defence Science and Technology Organisation (DSTO) maintains
   close watching brief on developments in weapons technology including
   electromagnetic devices," he said.

   "Beyond this, however, Defence will not discuss the details of ADF
   weapons technology."

   Quoting the Swedish newspaper Svenska Dagbladet, the news agency AFP
   said the high-power microwave bomb could be bought on the Russian
   market for "several hundreds of thousands kronor" (less than $150,000)
   and had already been bought by the Australian military among others.

   It said the bomb was stored in a briefcase and emitted short,
   high-energy pulses reaching 10 gigawatts, which could destroy complex
   electronics systems.

   Despite the science-fiction flavour, the electromagnetic bomb is close
   to reality. It has been the subject of extensive research in the US
   and presumably Russia for decades.

   The concept arose through early nuclear testing when scientists
   realised that high altitude atomic blasts produced an electromagnetic
   pulse capable of destroying delicate electronics systems on the
   ground.

   That was done through induced voltages that could burn out electronic
   systems.

   Any thermonuclear war would have started with such ionospheric blasts.
   One consequence was that military computer and electronic systems were
   "hardened" to minimise such damage, but civil systems remain
   vulnerable.

   Two types of non-nuclear EMP devices have been developed. One uses
   conventional explosives to induce the EMP; another uses a single-use,
   high-power microwave generation device.

   The ADF is well aware of the potential of EMP devices. Their
   capabilities were discussed in a paper published by the RAAF Air Power
   Studies Centre in 1996.

   Its author, defence analyst Carlo Kopp, concluded that the design and
   deployment of electromagnetic warheads for bombs and missiles was
   technically feasible in the next decade.

   Problems remained. The most fundamental is assessing whether the
   device has actually damaged or destroyed the target.

   "Providing that satisfactory solutions can be found for these
   problems, electromagnetic munitions for bomb and missile applications
   promise to be an important and robust weapon in both strategic and
   tactical operations, offering significantly reduced collateral damage
   and lower human casualties than established weapons," he said.