
DAILY MAIL ONLINE | Published January 12, 2025
As the development of ever more devastating nuclear weapons gathered pace amid the Cold War, American and Soviet scientists and military chiefs became acutely aware of the destructive potential of an electromagnetic pulse attack.
Besides the obvious consequences of a nuclear missile strike on land, experts realised that they could also wreak havoc on their adversary by detonating their intercontinental ballistic missiles (ICBMs) in space.
The resulting surge of energy from the huge radioactive explosion would knock out critical infrastructure in enemy territory for thousands upon thousands of square miles.
But after both sides amassed huge arsenals and developed early warning systems designed to ensure whoever struck first could not escape a cataclysmic response, the threat of mutually assured destruction meant a nuclear strike or EMP attack became a very slim prospect.
This comforting status quo was shattered early last year, however, when a series of bombshell reports in American media revealed that US intelligence officials suspected Russia was working on plans to deploy nuclear weapons in space via satellite.
Then in early December, US officials told the New York Times they believed a specific Russian scientific satellite – ‘Cosmos 2553’ – is already testing components for that very weapon.
The reports sparked fears that Moscow could blast a satellite into space with a nuclear warhead on board, moving it into position above the United States or other Western nations before detonating at the perfect moment.
This orbital weapon would destroy or disable thousands of vital satellites – but if detonated at the right altitude, it could also deliver a punishing EMP strike on the territory below.
below.

Russia launches a Soyuz-2.1b from Plesetsk cosmodrome with a Defence Ministry payload

Apache test detonation on Enewetak Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, 8th July 1956, at the end of Operation Redwing a series of 17 nuclear tests from May to July 1956
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SOURCE: www.dailymail.co.uk
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Electromagnetic pulse weapons have the potential to knock out Western power supplies Credit: Imaginima/Istockphoto
THE TELEGRAPH | Published January 12, 2025
The development of EMP weapons risks throwing the world back into the Stone Age
One evening as the summer of 1859 drew to an end, a telegraph operator in Washington received a tremendous shock. An arc of flame burst from Frederick W Royce’s head to the equipment on his desk, and he passed out. His set was ablaze.
Wireless operators were being affected all over the world. “Everywhere the instruments were jammed,” reported the Sydney Morning Herald. Sparks from telegraph wires even created minor forest fires.
The operators suspected it was somehow related to the spectacular aurora displays the world was enjoying that week, but they couldn’t be sure. “Red spires and clouds of green” were reported in Boston.
The sky was so bright that you could read a newspaper at night, from Canada to New Zealand. The world was experiencing an electrical super storm, which was thought at the time to be a terrestrial phenomenon, a kind of high-altitude lightning.
It was only when amateur astronomers like Richard Carrington, from his home-built observatory in Redhill, Surrey, began to compare notes over the next few days that the true cause became apparent.
The sun was erupting. A phenomenon known as coronal mass ejection, or CME, had supercharged the Earth’s magnetic field, sending surges through electrical equipment.
Today, a global event of this kind is named after him: a Carrington event. Simply put, it creates massive voltages that burn out electric circuits.
“A plasma on the sun creates a magnetic field, a shock wave, and that accelerates the particles towards us,” says Prof Richard Horne, head of space weather at the British Antarctic Survey, and chairman of the official group that advises the Cabinet Office on solar electromagnetic threats.
We have a day or two’s notice that the sun has gone wild, he warns – but that’s not that useful: “Even then, you still can’t say how big the magnetic storm will be. That depends on the polarity of the magnetic field, and you can only do that with half an hour’s warning.”
warning.”
A CME is one of three ways the sun can mess with us. Another is a solar particle event, which although less common can be just as lethal to our systems. Alarmingly, the possibility of a Carrington-style event is higher than you think – and it’s not some tiny fraction.
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SOURCE: www.telegraph.co.uk
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