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Science 5 June 1981:
Vol. 212. no. 4499, pp. 1116 - 1120
DOI: 10.1126/science.212.4499.1116
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Articles

Nuclear Pulse (II): Ensuring Delivery of the Doomsday Signal

WILLIAM J. BROAD

Defense strategists today assume that a single Soviet warhead detonated 200 miles above Nebraska would knock out unprotected communications equipment all across the United States. The reason is electromagnetic pulse (EMP), a by-product of high-altitude nuclear explosions that blankets huge tracts of the earth with peak fields of 50,000 volts per meter.

The first installment of this three-part series described how EMP was discovered and why its potentially chaos-producing effects were overlooked for more than a decade. The second part examines the ongoing debate in the Pentagon over how to cope with the EMP threat. The third part will discuss questions EMP raises about waging a limited nuclear war.


THIS ARTICLE HAS BEEN CITED BY OTHER ARTICLES:
A Fatal Flaw in the Concept of Space War.
W. J. BROAD (1982)
Science 215, 1372-1374
   PDF »
Military Grapples with the Chaos Factor.
W. J. BROAD (1981)
Science 213, 1228-1229
   PDF »


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