Article

2013-11-03 Israel-Palestine-Jordan

EMP: Can Israel Catapult Iran Back to the Stone Age?

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Posted by Uncle Phester 2013-11-03 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11130 views ] Top

#1 Back to? They aren't there already? (Except for Tehran and the nukes.)

Posted by Glenmore 2013-11-03 00:30|| 2013-11-03 00:30|| Front Page Top

#2 Wikipedia article

An ex-atmosphere blast would have too large a footprint. Which means an atmospheric blast.

Posted by phil_b 2013-11-03 01:28|| 2013-11-03 01:28|| Front Page Top

#3 What's wrong with bronze age?

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2013-11-03 03:49|| 2013-11-03 03:49|| Front Page Top

#4 ...There's a couple things out of whack with this article, but for the most part he's on point. Keep in mind a couple things:

*As Phil B pointed out, this will have to be an atmospheric shot. Exoatmospheric means you'll hurt people you don't want to hurt, though in that part of the world it's hard for the Israelis to tell the difference.

*A high atmospheric shot over Tehran (and/or Qom) will do more than send the Iranians back into the 1800s - it will effectively remove any semblance of control the mullahs have over that beknighted land. And you would be surprised, I think, at just how many people in how many places over the Iranian map would suddenly decide that they were the best successors.

And how many people in other countries (ah-ah-AH-CHOOCommunist China) felt they were best qualified to go in and 'help' the poor Iranians.

Mike

Posted by Mike Kozlowski 2013-11-03 10:18|| 2013-11-03 10:18|| Front Page Top

#5 One should also consider the international response to an Israeli-fired EMP over Tehran. It very likely would bring near-unanimous condemnation; Champ would certainly lead the U.S. into breaking relations (or at the very least stopping all aid). The Euros would follow. Putin and Russia might well be even more direct.

Israel's neighbors (the ones not whacked with the EMP) could be goaded into responding: Egypt has a semi-decent military that wouldn't mind fighting someone besides their own citizens. That they would very likely lose big-time wouldn't stop them from trying.

My calculation is that Israel would do a Tehran-EMP only if it believes itself to be completely, truly cornered. Stakes are too high for it be otherwise.

Posted by Steve White 2013-11-03 10:30|| 2013-11-03 10:30|| Front Page Top

#6 My calculation is that Israel would do a Tehran-EMP only if it believes itself to be completely, truly cornered. Stakes are too high for it be otherwise. Posted by Steve White

I concur Dr. Steve. Being "cornered" or pulling your opponent into the corner is also a good strategy. The enemy can only approach from one angle, and the response can indeed be characterized as cold, ruthless survival, culminating with a speedy and in this case, potentially horrific culmination.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-11-03 15:09|| 2013-11-03 15:09|| Front Page Top

#7 Agreed, Steve White. An EMP attack on Teheran or larger area in Iran is Sampson Option Lite, so to speak.....

Posted by Alaska Paul 2013-11-03 15:19|| 2013-11-03 15:19|| Front Page Top

#8 Perhaps the juices have a non-nuclear EMP option.

Posted by Shipman 2013-11-03 15:37|| 2013-11-03 15:37|| Front Page Top

#9 Personally, I fancy a plague of 8 inch golems.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2013-11-03 15:51|| 2013-11-03 15:51|| Front Page Top

#10 Shipman I would be seriously surprised if they did not...

Posted by Uncle Phester 2013-11-03 16:09|| 2013-11-03 16:09|| Front Page Top

#11 #9 Personally, I fancy a plague of 8 inch golems.

So 20th Century. How about a Shiite miniaturisation ray?

Posted by Zenobia Floger6220 2013-11-03 16:17|| 2013-11-03 16:17|| Front Page Top

#12 So 20th Century

I said golems, not gremlins.

Posted by g(r)omgoru 2013-11-03 16:29|| 2013-11-03 16:29|| Front Page Top

#13 I've got a better idea. We can make a computer virus that'll screw up all of their electronics so that they can't launch any programs. I hear the NSA already has a prototype in testing, called "Windows 8."

Posted by Thing From Snowy Mountain 2013-11-03 16:57|| 2013-11-03 16:57|| Front Page Top

#14 Golem - Left Astronaut - Right

Posted by WeRNotNKansas ToTo 2013-11-03 16:59|| 2013-11-03 16:59|| Front Page Top

#15 EMP is almost useless against such a broken down country. Once you decide to nuke something, then just go all old testament on it.

Posted by rammer 2013-11-03 17:39|| 2013-11-03 17:39|| Front Page Top

#16 Mined an email to family Sept 2012.

It's been a month of leaks, a battle on both sides of the Atlantic between the hawks and doves crescendoing with Netanyahu cancelling his second day of meetings and demanding Mossad polygraph his entire security cabinet. I'll leave out the dramas. But two noteworthy leaks from all this: a battle plan and a hint to having a secret weapon.

At first I thought the battle plan leaked what the secret weapon is. The leaked plan details Israeli aircraft AND MISSLES being coated with a cheap but effective nano particle paint that eats radar and makes planes nearly stealth/invisible. But this I found was open sourced and has been out there for a few years: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3919257,00.html.

But. I think I know what's up their sleeve. There was an Israeli op-ed about sending Iran back to the stone age with an Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon (EMP). But the author was talking nuclear, and that's a no-go.

However I think I'm nailing it here - non nuclear electronic pulse weapon. Soviets and US built them in the 1960s. I have a little traction here. A prominent Israeli counter-terrorism expert Yael Shahar (Director of the International Institute for Counter-Terrorism) has whole lectures on how easy it would to build one. Her lectures are mostly defensive in ways to harden infrastructure and airlines.

But! She's often quoted, "the really alarming thing is that non nuclear EMP weapons are 'not technically challenging to build'.

The alleged war plan said the Israeli strike would begin with an unprecedented cyberattack designed to paralyze the Iranian regime and blind it to what was happening on its territory. The Internet, telephones, radio and television transmissions, the electrical grid would all be taken out.

The trial run for the initial strike was Syria. Israelis hacked their air defenses and turned them off. Got into the electric grid and turned off the power. Hacked the cell towers, sent texts mssgs to everyone in the vicinity to flee or get bombed, then they turned the towers off. They were in and out before Syria knew what hit em.

Next phase is missle and cruise missle (land and sea based) strikes on command and control, research and development, and high value personnel and govt figures. Remember that "invisible" paint, even if they get some of their systems back up, the paint will make the missiles invisible. No warnings.

This is the phase the non nuclear ectronic pulse missles are used. Totally crippling Iranian infrastructure.

Then the IAF goes in and mops up.

Israelis are domestically producing bunkbusters, little 500 pounders. Also in their arsenal are 100s of US made 1000 and 5000 pounders.

Another trending headlines this year, the electronic warfare unit of the IAF have been bragging about capabilities.

Janes says the Israelis don't have enough air tankers to successfully carry the strike out. But a German Cold War relic Hans Rühle another security expert takes the opposite side.

Posted by mossomo 2013-11-03 17:40|| 2013-11-03 17:40|| Front Page Top

#17 But. I think I know what's up their sleeve. There was an Israeli op-ed about sending Iran back to the stone age with an Electromagnetic Pulse Weapon (EMP). But the author was talking nuclear, and that's a no-go

Don't believe I'd go quite that far.

Posted by Besoeker 2013-11-03 17:56|| 2013-11-03 17:56|| Front Page Top

#18 Israel would have to have its back to the Wailing Wall before they used an NEMP. That said, they did take out Iraq's and Syria's nuclear capability. The world made outraged noises but it didn't go very far at the time.

Posted by JohnQC 2013-11-03 18:22|| 2013-11-03 18:22|| Front Page Top

#19 Non-nuclear EMP weapons would be small footprint, a single building at most.

What occurred to me is a directed EMP weapon in a satellite. You could progressively take out key buildings, if the recharge time was a few minutes.

Could have deployed one already. Easy to test and I would think undetectable.

Posted by phil_b 2013-11-03 18:54|| 2013-11-03 18:54|| Front Page Top

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