The DPRK's nuclear arsenal

[Lewdog]

Agreed, a single EMP pulse in space, high over the continental US will destroy the infrastructure of the entire nation for months, maybe even a year, tens of millions of lives will be lost due to loss of infrastructure, setting us back decades, causing an economic disaster multiple time worse than the great depression.


Folks will starve, the crops will wither and die, the hospitals won't function, power will be lost, water won't run, airlines won't run, anything that runs on computers, power, cars. . . imagine us being sent back to civil war technology w/o the infrastructure of that era.

We are so unprepared it is unbelievable.......both hardening our infrastructure as well as our missile defense systems.......thanks a whole bunch Obastardo.....

The missile defense system plans were laid back in 1985. It has nothing to do with Obama.

We have fallen behind the times because BO did nada....

"President Obama’s missile defense policy shifts cost the nation precious time and capabilities at a time when adversaries are succeeding in advancing their own ballistic missile programs. The next President must avoid such missile defense policy weaknesses, fund missile defense programs adequately, and deploy a comprehensive layered missile defense architecture, including interceptors in space."

President Obama’s Missile Defense Policy: A Misguided Legacy

This is a better more in-depth article that shows that Obama took a 2 prong approach to the missile defense.

U.S. Missile Defense Programs at a Glance | Arms Control Association

 

[usmbguest5318]

Agreed, a single EMP pulse in space, high over the continental US will destroy the infrastructure of the entire nation for months, maybe even a year, tens of millions of lives will be lost due to loss of infrastructure, setting us back decades, causing an economic disaster multiple time worse than the great depression.


Folks will starve, the crops will wither and die, the hospitals won't function, power will be lost, water won't run, airlines won't run, anything that runs on computers, power, cars. . . imagine us being sent back to civil war technology w/o the infrastructure of that era.

We are so unprepared it is unbelievable.......both hardening our infrastructure as well as our missile defense systems.......thanks a whole bunch Obastardo.....

In all fairness, for decades we've been kicking this can down the road.. Obama, Bush, Clinton, Bush Sr.... the only one that took it serious was Reagan, and look what they did to him.. dubbed him "Ronnie Raygun".

Off Topic:

look what they did to him.. dubbed him "Ronnie Raygun".

Who would "they" be? I've never heard that before.

 

[usmbguest5318]

Agreed, a single EMP pulse in space, high over the continental US will destroy the infrastructure of the entire nation for months, maybe even a year, tens of millions of lives will be lost due to loss of infrastructure, setting us back decades, causing an economic disaster multiple time worse than the great depression.


Folks will starve, the crops will wither and die, the hospitals won't function, power will be lost, water won't run, airlines won't run, anything that runs on computers, power, cars. . . imagine us being sent back to civil war technology w/o the infrastructure of that era.

You've read too many survivalist novels.

You should probably read the document I've linked in post 14. Despite his comments being extremely summarized in scope, I don't think MisterBeale's remarks materially misrepresent the nature and extent of the impacts an EMP blast in space above the U.S. will have.

 

[MisterBeale]

Agreed, a single EMP pulse in space, high over the continental US will destroy the infrastructure of the entire nation for months, maybe even a year, tens of millions of lives will be lost due to loss of infrastructure, setting us back decades, causing an economic disaster multiple time worse than the great depression.


Folks will starve, the crops will wither and die, the hospitals won't function, power will be lost, water won't run, airlines won't run, anything that runs on computers, power, cars. . . imagine us being sent back to civil war technology w/o the infrastructure of that era.

From the little reading I've done on the subject, there are a whole lot of variables involved in the potential effects of an EMP. The size of the device is a big one, as is the altitude at which it is detonated (although that is dependent on the device size to a large extent). A megaton yield weapon, for example, might be able to cause a large amount of EMP damage when detonated anywhere from 40-400 kms up, while a kiloton yield weapon would need to be detonated in a much smaller altitude window to be very effective, perhaps from 25-35 kms up.

I'm not saying EMP is a threat that should be dismissed, just that your scenario of a single EMP destroying the entire nation's infrastructure would require certain conditions which may not be likely at the moment.

Is there a specific part of my comments you disagree with? If so, why? Or are you just going to stick to memes?

No. I'm not disagreeing with you at all.

I'm saying what you are doing is equivocating and gambling, nothing more. I doesn't really matter if an EMP takes out the infrastructure of the entire nation, half the nation, a third, a quarter, a fifth, the result will likely still be catastrophic and the nation still isn't covering it's ass.

 

[bripat9643]

Look people, please think. I understand millennial s won't get this because they through no fault of their own, weren't properly educated.

This is not our first ICBM rodeo. I'm old enough to remember when the big scare was that communist Russia and communist china could drop a nuke on all of our cities in one synchronous launch. Does anyone REALLY believe that we can't knock his meager stores of missiles out of the sky shortly after launch? REALLY?

Come in people jeeezz

Yes, if he launched 5 or 10, it would be hard for us to knock them all down.

 

[PredFan]

Look people, please think. I understand millennial s won't get this because they through no fault of their own, weren't properly educated.

This is not our first ICBM rodeo. I'm old enough to remember when the big scare was that communist Russia and communist china could drop a nuke on all of our cities in one synchronous launch. Does anyone REALLY believe that we can't knock his meager stores of missiles out of the sky shortly after launch? REALLY?

Come in people jeeezz

Yes, if he launched 5 or 10, it would be hard for us to knock them all down.

Hardly. Plus I don't think he has that many. He's small-time and big bluster.

 

[Montrovant]

Agreed, a single EMP pulse in space, high over the continental US will destroy the infrastructure of the entire nation for months, maybe even a year, tens of millions of lives will be lost due to loss of infrastructure, setting us back decades, causing an economic disaster multiple time worse than the great depression.


Folks will starve, the crops will wither and die, the hospitals won't function, power will be lost, water won't run, airlines won't run, anything that runs on computers, power, cars. . . imagine us being sent back to civil war technology w/o the infrastructure of that era.

From the little reading I've done on the subject, there are a whole lot of variables involved in the potential effects of an EMP. The size of the device is a big one, as is the altitude at which it is detonated (although that is dependent on the device size to a large extent). A megaton yield weapon, for example, might be able to cause a large amount of EMP damage when detonated anywhere from 40-400 kms up, while a kiloton yield weapon would need to be detonated in a much smaller altitude window to be very effective, perhaps from 25-35 kms up.

I'm not saying EMP is a threat that should be dismissed, just that your scenario of a single EMP destroying the entire nation's infrastructure would require certain conditions which may not be likely at the moment.

Is there a specific part of my comments you disagree with? If so, why? Or are you just going to stick to memes?

No. I'm not disagreeing with you at all.

I'm saying what you are doing is equivocating and gambling, nothing more. I doesn't really matter if an EMP takes out the infrastructure of the entire nation, half the nation, a third, a quarter, a fifth, the result will likely still be catastrophic and the nation still isn't covering it's ass.

I am neither equivocating nor gambling. I made no statements about what should or should not be done to protect from a possible EMP attack. I clearly said that I do NOT think EMP threats should be dismissed. Instead, I pointed out that your original statement on the subject was potentially inaccurate, and it is.

Protecting ourselves from EMP would potentially be a costly and time-consuming endeavor. It might well be worth it, though.