E-Bomb-The Future Of Weapons

Souryojit Ghosh
Praxis business School
Batch (2010-2012)
Roll no- B10032
Abstract

Electromagnetic bombs (E-Bombs) are technically becoming more feasible with the advent of High Power
Electromagnetic Pulse generation techniques and High Power Microwave technology, with new
applications in Strategic and Tactical Information Warfare. A very short, intense energy pulse is
generated by the weapon producing a surge of thousands of volts that kills semiconductor devices. The
effectiveness of the weapon is determined by the power generated and the characteristic of the pulse.
Various governments around the world are involved in extensive research for building the E-Bomb and
want to use it against terrorists.

The Alternative To Guns and Bloodshed

The theory behind the idea of the E-bomb was proposed long back in the year 1925 by
physicist Aurthur H.Compton to not built weapons but to study atoms. He experimented that by firing a
stream of highly energetic photons into atoms that have a low atomic number, will cause them to eject a
stream of electrons. This effect is also known as the Compton Effect. It was instrumental in unlocking the
secrets of the atom. It was the nuclear research that led to the unexpected discovery of the power of the
Compton Effect which finally led to the inception of the E-bomb. The detonation of the hydrogen bombs
high over the Pacific Ocean by nuclear weapons designers in the year 1958, resulted in creating bursts of
gamma rays that on striking the oxygen and nitrogen in the atmosphere released a shockwave of
electrons that spread for hundreds of miles. The damage caused was so extensive and widespread that
street lights were blown out in Hawaii and radio navigation was disrupted for 18 hours, even in places as
far away as Australia. The U.S then came up with the idea to develop Electromagnetic weapons.

The Electromagnetic shockwave produces the Electromagnetic pulse and this pulse of
energy produces a powerful electromagnetic field, which can be strong enough to produce short lived
transient voltages of thousands of volts on exposed electrical conductors such as wires or conductive
tracks on printed circuit boards which are exposed. The EMP effect as it is called is of great military
significance as it can do irreversible damage to a wide range of electrical and electronic equipment such
as computers, radio or radar receivers. The equipment can be permanently damaged or electrically
destroyed depending on the electromagnetic hardness of the electronics, a measure of the equipments
resistance to this effect and the intensity of the field produced by the weapon. The damage caused would
be the same as the effect caused by exposure to close proximity lightning strikes and may require
complete replacement of the equipment. Computer equipment would be very sensitive to EMP effects, as
it is high quantity of Metal Oxide Semiconductor (MOS) devices which are very sensitive to exposure to
high voltage transients. Computers which are used in communication systems, road and rail signaling,
military equipment such as signal processors, electronic flight control and digital engine control systems
etc would all be vulnerable to the EMP effect. Other electronic devices and electronic equipment can also
be destroyed by the EMP effect. Equipments such as telecommunications equipment, radar and
electronic warfare equipment, satellite, microwave, UHF, VHF, HF, Low band communications equipment
and television equipment having lengthy copper cables between devices, high frequency transistors,
diodes will be very vulnerable to the EMP effect.

Key technologies that are existent to form the technological base in E-bomb are
explosively pumped Flux Compression Generators (FCG), explosive or propellant driven Magneto-
Hydrodynamic (MHD) generators and a range of High Power Microwave(HMP) devices such as the
Virtual Cathode Oscillator or Vicrator. The following figure has the typical EMP shapes for a Nuclear EMP
Transient, Lightning stroke and Flux Compression Generator.
Flux Compression Generators

In bomb designs the explosively pumped FCG is the most developed technology
applicable. It has been built and tested in U.S, Common Wealth of Independent States and India to name
a few countries. A FCG is a device which is a competent of producing electrical energies of tens of
MegaJoules in tens to hundreds of microseconds of time and is quite a compact package. The power
peak levels of the order of TeraWatts to tens of TeraWatts. The current that is produced is ten to a
thousand times greater than that produced by a typical lightning stroke. A start current produces the
magnetic field before the explosive initiation. A high voltage capacitor bank or a smaller FCG or a MHD
device gives the initial start current. The helical FCG is most commonly used as; its cyndrical form factor
lends itself to packaging into munitions. The following diagram shows the helical FCG and how the
explosion takes place inside the cylindrical chamber over time.
 The cylindrical copper chamber forms the armature and the tube is filled with fast high
energy explosive. The FCG could disintegrate due to the intense magnetic fields produced during its
operation. This problem is dealt by adding a structural jacket of a non magnetic material such as concrete
or a fiberglass in a epoxy material. The explosive will be initiated when the start current peaks. This can
be done with a explosive lense plane wave generator which will produce a uniform wave burn front in the
explosive. The front then propagates through the explosive in the armature, thereby distorting it into a
conical shape. A short circuit is formed between the ends of the stator coil thereby isolating the start
current and trapping the current within the device. This compresses the magnetic field whilst reducing the
inductance of the stator winding, which will ultimately result in the generator producing a ramping current
pulse, which will peak before the final disintegration of the device. In adapting the FCG to weapons
application the main technical issue lie in packaging, the supply of the start current and matching the
device to the intended load.

Explosive and Propellant Driven MHD Generators

The design of the explosive and propellant driven Magneto-Hydrodynamic

generators is much less complex than that of the FCG. Their potential mainly lies in the start current
generation of the FCG devices. The MHD device consists of a conductor that is moving through a
magnetic field which will produce an electric current across the direction of the field and the conductor
motion. A plasma of ionized explosive or propellant gas acts as the conductor, which travels through the
magnetic field in an explosive or propellant driven MHD device.

High Power Microwave Sources- The Vircator

A HMP overcomes the limitations of the FCG, its output power is tightly focused and
its ability to couple energy into many targets is much better. There are a wide range of HMP devices that
exist. A few examples of the available technology base are Relativistic Klystrons, Magnetrons, Slow Wave
devices, Reflex triodes and Vircators. The Vircator is ideal as a device for a bomb, the reason being that
the Vircator is a one shot device capable of producing a very powerful single pulse of radiation and is
mechanically quite simple, robust, small and can operate over a relatively broad band of microwave
frequencies. In the Vicrator a high current electron beam is accelerated against a mesh anode, many
electrons pass through the mesh anode, thereby forming a bubble of space charge behind the anode
which will oscillate at microwave frequencies. High peak powers can be achieved by placing the space
charge region in a resonant cavity.

The Axial Vircator (AV) and the Transverse Vircator(TV) are the two
configurations of the Vircator. The best power outputs in experiments is produced by the Axial Vircator. It
has a cylindrical wave guide structure. The power is extracted by transitioning the waveguide into a
conical horn structure, which functions as an antenna. It oscillates in the Transverse Magnetic (TM)
modes. On the other hand the Transverse Vircator will inject cathode current from the side of the cavity
and will oscillate in a Transverse Electric (TE) mode. There are certain technical issues in the Vircator
such as output pulse duration and stability of oscillation frequency. These can be overcome by limiting
anode melting, controlling cavity mode hopping, conversion efficiency and total power output.
The Lethality of Electromagnetic Warheads

Electromagnetic weapon lethality is a complex issue as the calculation of

electromagnetic field strengths attainable at a given radius for a given device design is possible but
determining a kill probability for a given target is quite complex. This is because target types are very
diverse in their electromagnetic hardness or ability to resist damage. Shielded equipment which are
hardened against electromagnetic attacks will be able to withstand greater field strengths than standard
commercial equipment. The other major problem in determining the lethality of the weapon is the coupling
efficiency, which is the measure of how much power is transferred from the field produced by the weapon
into the target. The power generated coupled properly into the target can cause damage to desired levels.

Coupling Modes

Front door coupling and Back door coupling are the two kinds of coupling modes. Front
door coupling occurs when the power from a electromagnetic weapon is coupled into an antenna which is
associated with radar or communications equipment. The Back door coupling occurs when the
electromagnetic field from a weapon produces large transient currents or electrical standing waves on
fixed electrical wiring and cables interconnecting equipment or providing connections to mains power or
the telephone network.

A low frequency weapon will couple quite efficiently into a typical wiring infrastructure as
most power lines, network cables follow streets building risers and corridors. More than one linear
segment of the cable run is cable run is likely to be oriented so that good coupling efficiency can be
achieved. The defense that is provided to the target equipment by the transformer and cable pulse
arrester once breached voltages even as low as 50 volts can inflict substantial damage upon the
computer and communications equipment. The ability to directly couple into equipment through
ventilation holes, gaps between panels and poorly shielded interfaces is offered by HPM weapons which
operate in the centimetric and millimetric bands. Microwave weapons can be more lethal than low
frequency weapons as they can couple more easily than low frequency weapons and in many cases
overcome the protection devices designed to stop low frequency weapons.

The figure shows a low frequency E-Bomb in a MK.84 packaging. The helical FCG is present in 2
stages, the coaxial load is present in the front of the weapon just in front of the explosive switch.

Wiring and cabling related back door coupling is dealt with to determine the known lethal voltage level
and using this, the required field strength is found to generate this voltage. The lethal radius of the
weapon can be calculated using the known field strength. The following figure shows the E-Bomb lethal
radius.
 Maximizing Electromagnetic Bomb Lethality

The lethality of an electromagnetic bomb can be maximized by maximizing the power

coupled into the target set. To maximize the lethality of the bomb, the peak power and the radiation of the
weapon has to be maximized. This can be accomplished by using the most powerful FCG which will fit
the weapon size and by increasing the efficiency of internal power transfers in the weapon to its
maximum potential. Then the coupling efficiency has to be maximized into the target set. This can be
done by exploiting every coupling opportunity available within the bandwidth of the weapon.

A possible option for a bomb approaching its programmed firing altitude is to deploy
five linear antenna elements. This can be done by firing off cable spools which unwind several hundred
meters of wires. A ‘virtual’ earth plane is formed around the bomb by four radial antenna planes, while an
axial antenna is used to radiate power from the FCG. Another possible option is to simply guide the bomb
very close to the target and rely upon the near field produced by the FCG winding, which is basically a
loop antenna of very small diameter relative to the wavelength. The use of a guided bomb would make it
possible for the warhead to be positioned accurately within meters of the target. Chirping the Vicrator can
increase the coupling frequency in comparison with a single frequency weapon. This can be done by
enabling the radiation to couple into apertures and resonance over a range of frequencies. Polarization of
the weapon’s emission can also improve the coupling. A circular polarized emission will exploit all
coupling opportunities. An efficient high power circularly polarized antenna design which is compact and
performs over a wide band is a definite practical constraint. The detonation altitude is another important
aspect of E-Bomb lethality, and by varying the detonation altitude the size of the lethal footprint and
intensity of the electromagnetic field in that footprint can be altered. Microwave weapons can focus all of
their energy output into the lethal footprint and can exploit a wider range of coupling modes, thus making
a preferred choice.
Targeting Electromagnetic Bombs

Identifying targets for attack with E-Bombs can be complex. Buildings, military
bases, known radar and communication nodes are all targets that can easily be identified and engaged
in. Hidden targets that do not radiate too much, may present a problem particularly if conventional means
of targeting is employed.

The Delivery of Conventional E-Bombs,

The conventional E-Bomb can be fitted to a range of delivery vehicles. A

conventional aircraft can offer a better ratio of electromagnetic device mass to total bomb mass. A missile
borne electromagnetic warhead will consist of a electromagnetic device, an electrical energy converter
and an onboard storage device such as a battery. With the advent of the GPS satellite navigation
guidance kits for conventional bombs and glide bombs, delivering such weapons has become quite
cheap.
Defense Against Electromagnetic Bombs

The most effective way to defend against electromagnetic bombs is to destroy the launch
platform or the delivery vehicle. This option however is not possible always and the equipment is then
susceptible to the electromagnetic waves. The holistic way to protect the equipment against the E-Bomb
is a electrically conductive closure called a Faraday cage, which will prevent the electromagnetic field
from gaining access to the protected equipment.

The following figure contains of a computer room hardened against an EM attack, which
has taken its concept from the Faraday cage. It consists of an electrically conductive lining on the border,
a mesh shield with electromagnetic seal, an airlock, doors with electromagnetic seals and radiation trap.
The facility should not readily radiate detectable emission.
Limitations of Electromagnetic Bombs

The limitation of the E-Bomb is determined by the weapon delivery and means of
delivery. The implementation will determine the electromagnetic field strength attainable at a given radius
and its special distribution. The means of delivery will consist of the accuracy with which the weapon is hit
on the target. Also the lethal coverage of the weapon is extremely important and for that the atmospheric
propagation can be a limitation.

Uses of the E-Bomb

The E-Bomb can be used in Electronic combat operations, strategic air attack operations,
Offensive counter air operations and maritime air operations by the military against terrorists. The bomb is
economically quite feasible as few terrorists organizations claim that it can be made for approximately
$400. Though the government don’t accept that.

Conclusions

Electromagnetic bombs are weapons of electrical mass destruction and have varied
applications, spanning both strategic and tactical. The E-Bombs cause hard electrical kills over much
larger areas than conventional explosive weapons of similar mass. As it doesn’t cause bloodshed and kill
people the use their use is far less politically damaging and conventional bombs and therefore broadens
the range of military options available. They can thrust a civilization backward to 200 years with no kind of
technology available to man.
References

1) http://cryptome.quintessenz.org/mirror/ebomb.htm
2) http://www.lizmichael.com/ebomb.htm
3) http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/hpm.htm
4) Wikipedia
5) Google