It's not as if such it's unfamiliar to Russia though. They've EMP testing ranges - for testing a systems resilience to EMC and EM pulses - again, talk to
@SvenSvensonov /
@Sven about this as he did such things while in the USN. This is EMSEC's providence.
US systems like this B-52 undergo similar testing, as this trestle at Kirkland AFB shows.
Right, mainly we're using EMSEC to ensure an adversary can't intercept signals that are leaked through unofficial channels, these being anything we didn't intend to have EM leaked through.
For instance, when you turn on a radio and start talking, you expect radio waves to travel from point A to point B. This is intentional leakage and can be encrypted if needed. But your radio and radio receiver will also leak signals that may or may not be encrypted, and this is unintentional leakage and is called Van Eck phreaking, a type of side-channel attack
It's any easy attack too. All you need is to remain hidden, or else the signal will be terminated, to have an antenna capable to intercepting side-channel leakage, and to be close enough to get a good "read" on the signals.
But we do so for EM hardening too.
For the B-52 in that photo, it's undergoing an EMP hardening test to ensure a nuclear detonation and the ensuing EMP wouldn't render the aircraft a flying paper weight. They are tested to ensure they are radiation hardened and their avionics can survive a nuclear EMP.
We'd also have EMSEC done on its downlink or radios to ensure adversaries can't eavesdrop on orders given to the aircraft - via its downlink (SATCOMs are highly directional though, so to eavesdrop you'd need to be between the satellite and downlink and have a persistent presence. Anything persistently between a satellite and its downlink is going to be noticed and the link will be severed until the interloper is dealt with). Or to ensure the aircraft's communications with allied forces, say for target identification, validation and attack order isn't intercepted and used by an adversary to coordinate their counter-actions like defensive weapons, troop movements outside of the attack area or decoys.
Radiation hardening is done a few ways, and is tested at large ranges like that trestle at Kirkland AFB.
Methods include using certain materials on chips, such as the SOS configuration:
Or using specific chipset types, like a bipolar integrated circuit, which has a greater resilance to KRAD overloading:
To shield the circuits themselves, one can use depleted Boron, which absorbs KRADs:
Scrubber circuits can correct memory defaults or inconsistencies and auto-repair them. This is done with ECC memory for the most part:
There's a whole host of ways to shield electronics against neutron or EMP overloading, but the threat of an EMP is still a valid concern as civilian infrastructure tends not to be shielded due to cost concerns.
It is not a reliable solution. Experts will tell you as much.
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Correct. Faraday cages aren't a valid source of protection outside of controlled environments like labs or EMSEC testing facilities because we need to be sure of the frequencies we're dealing with when trying to stop EM radiation. On the battlefield, you aren't going to know that type of information and thus your Faraday cage may be totally ineffective against the type of threat you're facing.
The better course of action is to conduct EM(C) testing before sending a platform onto the battlefield to ensure it can operate in an EM heavy environment:
This depends on how we classify EMP.
What separates a radar from an EMP device? Power. Crank up the power on a radar and it'll burn electronics rather then jam them.
This is another great point. All militaries have access to EMPs, but only against certain classes of targets and from certain, often prohibitively limited distances, even when maxing the power of their radar system .
The less secure the target, the greater the effect EM emissions will have against it. While small or ill-equipped militaries wont have standoff EMP capacities, they'll still be able to use their radar platforms as makeshift jammers or as EMPs against ill-defensed infrastructure from a certain distance and within a certain class.
The problem faced is that while they can be used as jammers or as an EMP, the distances needed to attack with a low-powered radar often mean you're simply going to be "cooking" your target with EM radiation, much like a microwave can, or you need to be too close to your target and thus it's an impractical solution. If you need to be in the same room as the server farm you're trying to jam, you're better off resorting to other options.
As you stated, to get a credible and realistic EMP effect, one that doesn't require you to be ontop of your target, you just need to ratchet up the power levels.
Large radars like THAAD's AN/TPY-2 or the SPY-1D (not smaller SPY series radars like SPY-1F) have power outputs that can allow the radar to act as an EMP or counter-jammer jammer and this allows them a realistic opportunity to be used as such operationally.
That'd need to be a very large EM pulse as EM radiation has a difficult time penetrating large amounts of metal, like tanks often are made from. Same with submarines. In addition to the mountain of water they're under, and that they're often receiving instead of trasponding, a submarine's hull acts to lessen EM emissions.
It's probably an electro-optical jammer for hindering the sights of enemy tanks. China's Type-99 has a similar system, acting as a laser-defense counter measure for blinding thermal and gunnery sights.
This is the Type 99's laser dazzler.
To penetrate a tank with a laser and be able to effect critical functions like engine operability - by targeting electrical components within the engine - that'd need to be big, powerful and something the world doesn't yet have.
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Anyone else have a question?