Weapons

Raytheon To Build Microwave Energy Cruise Missiles For USAF

The US Air Force is looking to acquire a missile that can quite literally fry electronics. The USAF is paying $4.8 million to equip two cruise missiles with high-powered microwave energy weapons. The intent is to create cruise missiles that can send out powerful pulses of microwave energy to short and fry any electronic equipment in their way.

The idea comes from nuclear weapons. Or more specifically, the electromagnetic pulse emitted by a nuclear blast. Each nuclear explosion, in addition to the usual effects we’re familiar with from video footage, emits tremendous and concentrated amounts of electromagnetic energy. The pulses, or EMPs, travel through the atmosphere and destroy all electronic equipment they come into contact with, especially solid-state electronics like computer chips.

Such a weapon, that can destroy electronics, and thus much of the fighting capacity of a modern army, without causing the damage of a regular bomb or endangering lives, has incredibly tactical advantages.