Chinese balloon called 'dry run' for EMP attack

[Elderberry]

WND 2/3/2023

Nuke at altitude could destroy electronics for hundreds of miles

A commentary at the Washington Examiner is warning that a Chinese spy balloon being watched as it crosses the United States could be a "dry run" for an EMP attack.

An electromagnetic pulse attack would be triggered by a nuclear explosion at altitude. It would disrupt electronics in a massive region, and earlier warnings have said that it could take down America's grid, destroy basic functions like banking and deliveries, and ultimately kill millions.

The latest warning is contained in Paul Bedard's Washington Secrets column.

"High-altitude balloons, such as the one China has floated over mountain state military bases this week, are considered a key 'delivery platform' for secret nuclear strikes on America’s electric grid, according to intelligence officials," he reported.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2023/02/chinese-balloon-called-dry-run-emp-attack/

[mountaineer]

No doubt.

[DB]

The balloon would have to be a wee bit bigger... Nukes are a lot heavier than whatever this balloon is carrying... A lot easier to do with a rogue commercial aircraft and essentially undetectable.

[Elderberry]

The balloon would have to be a wee bit bigger... Nukes are a lot heavier than whatever this balloon is carrying... A lot easier to do with a rogue commercial aircraft and essentially undetectable.

The B54 nuke weighed under 60 lbs.  I'm sure that balloon could carry one.

[Fishrrman]

Interesting that it's being reported that there's another balloon approaching (currently over Canada?).

With the Chinese apparently planning for an attack on Taiwan in the next 2-3 years, these could be "trial balloons" on some kind of future plan they have "for us"...

[DB]

The B54 nuke weighed under 60 lbs.  I'm sure that balloon could carry one.

And does a B54 nuke EMP things? It takes a lot of energy to EMP things over a wide area.

After all, that's the claim being made.

[mountaineer]

Inconvenient Truths by Jennifer Zeng 曾錚真言
@jenniferzeng97
1. #ChineseSpyBallon is equipped with a detection and fight function, and also has the ability to provide near earth space communication relay functions to ground operations personnel infiltrating in the #US

2. It can provide EMP electronic jamming capability. To develop this high-altitude balloon, #XiJinping personally participated in the acquisition of a Canadian aerodynamic company & a New Zealand power company a few years ago to solve the technical problems
Source: @lude_media
5:09 PM · Feb 3, 2023

See also: https://leohohmann.com/2023/02/03/breaking-news-chinese-spy-balloon-likely-gathering-intel-for-emp-attack/#more-12706

(FWIW. I claim no expertise on EMP attacks or Chinese spy balloons).

[Elderberry]

And does a B54 nuke EMP things? It takes a lot of energy to EMP things over a wide area.

After all, that's the claim being made.

The news has only said the balloon is the size of 3 buses, which I don't believe. The most common size of NASA’s balloons is 40 million cubic feet, or a volume equivalent to more than 195 Goodyear blimps.  A balloon of that size could easily carry a 1MT EMP Nuke.

[Right_in_Virginia]

Universal mail-in ballots and hand counts in 2024.   

[Right_in_Virginia]

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

NEW: "China's balloon flyover of the United States is clearly a provocative and aggressive act. It was most likely a type of dry run [for an EMP attack]," said ret. U.S. Air Force Maj. David Stuckenberg, who led the Defense Department's EMP Task Force

12:35 PM · Feb 4, 2023

[GtHawk]

Paul Sperry
@paulsperry_

NEW: "China's balloon flyover of the United States is clearly a provocative and aggressive act. It was most likely a type of dry run [for an EMP attack]," said ret. U.S. Air Force Maj. David Stuckenberg, who led the Defense Department's EMP Task Force

12:35 PM · Feb 4, 2023

Maybe Joe told Xi that ' it would be Ok as long as it was just a small balloon incursion....'

[unite for individuality]

Nuke at altitude could destroy electronics for hundreds of miles

An electromagnetic pulse attack would be triggered by a nuclear explosion at altitude.
It would disrupt electronics in a massive region,
and earlier warnings have said that it could take down America's grid,
destroy basic functions like banking and deliveries, and ultimately kill millions.

More: https://www.wnd.com/2023/02/chinese-balloon-called-dry-run-emp-attack/

An EMP attack certainly IS a major concern!
But 60,000 feet is not high enough to cause truly widespread damage.
The optimum altitude is about 250 miles.
That triggers what is called the "Compton effect."

The EMP from the nuclear detonation would
trigger the immediate release of all the energy stored
as ions in the upper atmosphere.
Therefore, such an attack would occur around mid-day,
when the stored energy is the greatest.

Three nukes at 250 miles up would wipe out most of the country.
Say, over New Jersey, over Louisiana, and over San Francisco.
Each one would fry every generator and transformer
within 1000 miles of each flash.

The nukes could be launched from "civilian" ships.

Destroying the power grid would cause -

- Empty stores - Most trucks have electronic ignition and electronic fuel injection.
   Also, there would be no power to operate the stores.

- No fuel - Gas stations need electricity to operate the pumps.
   Refineries need electricity to produce usable fuel.

- Cold buildings - Most furnaces require electricity to operate.

- No water - Most municipal water systems rely on electric pumps to fill the towers.

- Nuclear meltdowns - An EMP attack would cause 440 Fukushimas.
   There are about 440 nuclear reactors contributing to the power grid in the USA.
   With their generators fried,
   there would be no way to dispose of the energy they are producing.
   Even with the reactor shut down, it still makes enough heat that
   it needs to be cooled.
   The EMP would destroy the auxiliary cooling system,
   thereby causing the reactor to melt down.

Replacing all the generators and transformers would take more than 10 years,
IF there was electric power available to run those factories,
which there won't be.
AND, most generators and transformers are today made in China!
Don't expect any relief from them!

People have been sounding the alarm about EMP attack for TWENTY FIVE YEARS!
About fifteen years ago, Congress finally got around to holding some hearings about it.
Methods to protect the grid were presented.
If Congress had acted then, when it should have,
the job of protecting our power grid
would have been COMPLETED more than five years ago!
But, typical of Congress, the job is STILL NOT EVEN STARTED!

The price to protect the entire power grid would be about
one percent of the amount that the government spends each year
paying people to not work.

Technologies to protect the grid have been available for a long time.
Advanced Fusion Systems of Newtown Connecticut
(less than one mile from the Sandy Hook shooting)
can make protection systems for the grid.
(Basically, the system would run the power through giant diodes
located at each generator and transformer,
isolating it from the power lines, which would act as giant antennas,
gathering the EMP and shooting it into the generators and transformers.)

More info can be found at -

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electromagnetic_pulse

https://www.sandia.gov/labnews/2022/04/08/record-breaking-ultrafast-devices-step-to-protecting-the-grid-from-emp/

And by searching on - Advanced Fusion Systems