Number 50 An Introduction to the Technical and Operational Aspects of the Electromagnetic Bomb

function is to promote a greater understanding of the proper application of air power within the Australian Defence Force and in the wider community. This is being achieved through a variety of methods including development and revision of indigenous doctrine, the incorporation of that doctrine into all levels of RAAF training, and increasing the level of air power awareness across the broadest possible spectrum. Comment on this publication or inquiry on any air power related topic is welcome and should be forwarded to: completed an MSc in Computer Science and is currently working on a PhD in the same discipline, at Monash University in Melbourne. He has over a decade of diverse industry experience, including the design of high speed communications equipment, optical fibre receivers and transmitters, communications equipment including embedded code, Unix computer workstation motherboards, graphics adaptors and chassis. More recently, he has consulted in Unix systems programming, performance engineering and system administration. The author has been actively publishing as a defence analyst in Australia's leading aviation trade journal, Australian Aviation, since 1980 and has specialised in the area of application of modern military technology to operations and strategy. DISCLAIMER The views are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the Department of Defence, the Royal Australian Air Force or the Government of Australia. This document is approved for public release; distribution unlimited. Portions of this document may be quoted or reproduced without permission provided that a standard source credit is included. SYNOPSIS The rapid growth of the computing and communications infrastructure over the last decade has produced a significant dependency in modern industrialised economies, and this dependency produces a major vulnerability to attack by electromagnetic weapons. The maturing High Power Microwave and Flux Compression Generator technology base makes the design of practical, deployable electromagnetic munitions technically feasible. This paper will review the established technology base for electromagnetic bomb and missile warhead design, and discuss the issues of bomb and warhead design, lethality, targeting, delivery and bomb damage assessment. This paper was compiled wholly from open sources, detailed in the references. The primary sources were IEEE Pulsed Power Conference proceedings, supplemented by a number of electrical engineering and physics fundamentals texts. All of this material has been in the public domain for half a decade or longer. Acknowledgments Thanks to Dr D.H. Steven for his advice on high voltage pulsed power …