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Found on Wikipedia: Project K and Starfish Prime
Introduction to the Wikipedia Article Excerpts
China Confidential analysts believe Islamist Iran is working towards an EMP attack on the United States, with the assistance of Stalinist/Kimist North Korea, and, possibly, also the Chavez government in Venezuela and the Castro regime in Cuba.
An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on the U.S. homeland could cripple the country by wiping out nearly all electronic and communication systems--plunging the world's greatest democracy back into the 19th century. Experts estimate that 90% of the population would perish from the resulting lack of food and drinking water, heat and medicine, mass chaos and violence.
China and Russia have EMP attack capabilities; and Iran and North Korea are close behind, as an attack of this kind could be launched from a cargo ship or a barge off the U.S. coast. Not for nothing have the two rogues--partners in nuclear/missile proliferation--test-fired missiles from freighters. Thousands of such vessels, most flying flags of convenience, approach the U.S. every day.
There is no known defense against a sea-launched EMP attack; yet the Obama administration seems oblivious to the danger.
Click here for in-depth background information.
Project K
The K Project, or also Operation K, was a series of five high altitude nuclear explosions, nuclear tests performed by the Soviet Union during the years 1961 and 1962. Their purpose was to test the performance of anti-ballistic missiles of the ABM System A and their resistance against nuclear blasts in their vicinity. Artificial radiation belts were created and their effect was measured.
Each test involved pair of R-12 missiles launched from the Kapustin Yar test complex, to high altitude above the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile testing range in Kazakhstan. The first missile carried a nuclear warhead. The second one carried sensors to evaluate the effects of the first missile's blast and to act as a target for the anti-ballistic missile being tested.
The Soviet tests were meant to demonstrate their anti-ballistic missile defenses which would supposedly protect their major cities in the event of a nuclear war. The worst effects of a Russian high altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis), in Operation K when a 300 kiloton missile-warhead detonated west of Dzhezkazgan (also called Zhezqazghan) at an altitude of 290 km (180 miles). The Soviet scientists instrumented a 570 kilometer (353 mile) section of telephone line in the area affected by the detonation in order to measure electromagnetic pulse effects.
The EMP fused all of the 570-kilometer monitored overhead telephone line with measured currents of 1500 to 3400 amperes during the 22 October 1962 test. The monitored telephone line was divided into sub-lines of 40 to 80 kilometers (about 25 to 50 miles) in length, separated by repeaters. Each sub-line was protected by fuses and by gas-filled overvoltage protectors. The EMP from the 22 October (K-3) nuclear test caused all of the fuses to blow and all of the overvoltage protectors to fire in all of the sub-lines of the 570 km telephone line.[2] The EMP from the same test started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1000 km (620 miles) of shallow-buried power cables between Astana (then called Aqmola) and Almaty.
The Partial Test Ban Treaty was passed the following year, ending atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests.
Although the weapons used in the K Project were much smaller (up to 300 kilotons) than the United States Starfish Prime test of 1962, since the K Project tests were done over a populated large land mass (and also at a location where the Earth's magnetic field was greater), the damage caused by the resulting EMP was much greater. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the level of this damage was communicated informally to scientists in the United States. Formal scientific documentation of some of the EMP damage in Kazakhstan exists, but is still sparse in the open scientific literature.
The 1998 IEEE article], however, does contain a number of details about the measurements of EMP effects on the instrumented 570 km telephone line, including details about the fuses that were used and also about the gas-filled overvoltage protectors that were used on that communications line. According to that paper, the gas-filled overvoltage protectors fired as a result of the voltages induced by the fast E1 component of the EMP, and the fuses were blown as the result of the slow E3 component of the EMP, which caused geomagnetically induced currents in all of the sub-lines.
The Aqmola (Astana) to Almaty buried power cable was also shut down by the slow E3 component of the EMP.
The Starfish Prime Explosion
On 9 July 1962, at nine seconds after midnight, Johnston Island local time (which was 8 July, Honolulu time, at nine seconds after 11 p.m.), the Starfish Prime test was successfully detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The coordinates of the detonation were 16 degrees, 28 minutes North latitude, 169 degrees, 38 minutes West longitude. The actual weapon yield was very close to the design yield, which has been described by various sources at different values in the very narrow range of 1.4 to 1.45 megatons (6.0 PJ).
The Thor missile carrying the Starfish Prime warhead actually reached a maximum height of about 1100 km (just over 680 miles), and the warhead was detonated on its downward trajectory when it had fallen to the programmed altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The nuclear warhead detonated at 13 minutes and 41 seconds after liftoff of the Thor missile from Johnston Island.
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP-damaged microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.
While some of the energetic beta particles followed the Earth's magnetic field and illuminated the sky, other high-energy electrons became trapped and formed radiation belts around the earth. There was much uncertainty and debate about the composition, magnitude and potential adverse effects from this trapped radiation after the detonation. The weaponeers became quite worried when three satellites in low earth orbit were disabled. These man-made radiation belts eventually crippled one-third of all satellites in low earth orbit. Seven satellites were destroyed as radiation knocked out their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite ever, Telstar
Introduction to the Wikipedia Article Excerpts
China Confidential analysts believe Islamist Iran is working towards an EMP attack on the United States, with the assistance of Stalinist/Kimist North Korea, and, possibly, also the Chavez government in Venezuela and the Castro regime in Cuba.
An EMP (electromagnetic pulse) attack on the U.S. homeland could cripple the country by wiping out nearly all electronic and communication systems--plunging the world's greatest democracy back into the 19th century. Experts estimate that 90% of the population would perish from the resulting lack of food and drinking water, heat and medicine, mass chaos and violence.
China and Russia have EMP attack capabilities; and Iran and North Korea are close behind, as an attack of this kind could be launched from a cargo ship or a barge off the U.S. coast. Not for nothing have the two rogues--partners in nuclear/missile proliferation--test-fired missiles from freighters. Thousands of such vessels, most flying flags of convenience, approach the U.S. every day.
There is no known defense against a sea-launched EMP attack; yet the Obama administration seems oblivious to the danger.
Click here for in-depth background information.
Project K
The K Project, or also Operation K, was a series of five high altitude nuclear explosions, nuclear tests performed by the Soviet Union during the years 1961 and 1962. Their purpose was to test the performance of anti-ballistic missiles of the ABM System A and their resistance against nuclear blasts in their vicinity. Artificial radiation belts were created and their effect was measured.
Each test involved pair of R-12 missiles launched from the Kapustin Yar test complex, to high altitude above the Sary Shagan anti-ballistic missile testing range in Kazakhstan. The first missile carried a nuclear warhead. The second one carried sensors to evaluate the effects of the first missile's blast and to act as a target for the anti-ballistic missile being tested.
The Soviet tests were meant to demonstrate their anti-ballistic missile defenses which would supposedly protect their major cities in the event of a nuclear war. The worst effects of a Russian high altitude test occurred on 22 October 1962 (during the Cuban missile crisis), in Operation K when a 300 kiloton missile-warhead detonated west of Dzhezkazgan (also called Zhezqazghan) at an altitude of 290 km (180 miles). The Soviet scientists instrumented a 570 kilometer (353 mile) section of telephone line in the area affected by the detonation in order to measure electromagnetic pulse effects.
The EMP fused all of the 570-kilometer monitored overhead telephone line with measured currents of 1500 to 3400 amperes during the 22 October 1962 test. The monitored telephone line was divided into sub-lines of 40 to 80 kilometers (about 25 to 50 miles) in length, separated by repeaters. Each sub-line was protected by fuses and by gas-filled overvoltage protectors. The EMP from the 22 October (K-3) nuclear test caused all of the fuses to blow and all of the overvoltage protectors to fire in all of the sub-lines of the 570 km telephone line.[2] The EMP from the same test started a fire that burned down the Karaganda power plant, and shut down 1000 km (620 miles) of shallow-buried power cables between Astana (then called Aqmola) and Almaty.
The Partial Test Ban Treaty was passed the following year, ending atmospheric and exoatmospheric nuclear tests.
Although the weapons used in the K Project were much smaller (up to 300 kilotons) than the United States Starfish Prime test of 1962, since the K Project tests were done over a populated large land mass (and also at a location where the Earth's magnetic field was greater), the damage caused by the resulting EMP was much greater. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the level of this damage was communicated informally to scientists in the United States. Formal scientific documentation of some of the EMP damage in Kazakhstan exists, but is still sparse in the open scientific literature.
The 1998 IEEE article], however, does contain a number of details about the measurements of EMP effects on the instrumented 570 km telephone line, including details about the fuses that were used and also about the gas-filled overvoltage protectors that were used on that communications line. According to that paper, the gas-filled overvoltage protectors fired as a result of the voltages induced by the fast E1 component of the EMP, and the fuses were blown as the result of the slow E3 component of the EMP, which caused geomagnetically induced currents in all of the sub-lines.
The Aqmola (Astana) to Almaty buried power cable was also shut down by the slow E3 component of the EMP.
The Starfish Prime Explosion
On 9 July 1962, at nine seconds after midnight, Johnston Island local time (which was 8 July, Honolulu time, at nine seconds after 11 p.m.), the Starfish Prime test was successfully detonated at an altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The coordinates of the detonation were 16 degrees, 28 minutes North latitude, 169 degrees, 38 minutes West longitude. The actual weapon yield was very close to the design yield, which has been described by various sources at different values in the very narrow range of 1.4 to 1.45 megatons (6.0 PJ).
The Thor missile carrying the Starfish Prime warhead actually reached a maximum height of about 1100 km (just over 680 miles), and the warhead was detonated on its downward trajectory when it had fallen to the programmed altitude of 400 kilometres (250 mi). The nuclear warhead detonated at 13 minutes and 41 seconds after liftoff of the Thor missile from Johnston Island.
Starfish Prime caused an electromagnetic pulse which was far larger than expected, so much larger that it drove much of the instrumentation off scale, causing great difficulty in getting accurate measurements. The Starfish Prime electromagnetic pulse also made those effects known to the public by causing electrical damage in Hawaii, about 1,445 kilometres (898 mi) away from the detonation point, knocking out about 300 streetlights, setting off numerous burglar alarms and damaging a telephone company microwave link. The EMP-damaged microwave link shut down telephone calls from Kauai to the other Hawaiian islands.
While some of the energetic beta particles followed the Earth's magnetic field and illuminated the sky, other high-energy electrons became trapped and formed radiation belts around the earth. There was much uncertainty and debate about the composition, magnitude and potential adverse effects from this trapped radiation after the detonation. The weaponeers became quite worried when three satellites in low earth orbit were disabled. These man-made radiation belts eventually crippled one-third of all satellites in low earth orbit. Seven satellites were destroyed as radiation knocked out their solar arrays or electronics, including the first commercial relay communication satellite ever, Telstar
