Electronic warfare

USAF Microwave Weapon to Destroy North Korean Missiles

North Korea has made several nuclear and ICBMs tests recently. Also, the country’s leader Kim Jung-Un voiced threats towards his Southern neighbor and Western nations. The US and its allied nations have been developing different measures to use at a time when the erratic regime will decide to launch its missiles at those nations it sees as their enemy. The U.S. has a weapon called CHAMP (Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project) that could potentially stop North Korean missiles from launching, or force them to fall down harmlessly in the ocean after launch. The system is launched in a cruise missile shot from an aircraft and it is fitted with high-powered microwave generators, rather than having conventional explosives or nuclear payloads. This effectively means that this is a no-casualties weapon, as those microwaves, much like EMPs (Electro Magnetic Pulses), are harmless to anything not electronic.

The idea is that the CHAMP cruise missile would fly in low over its targets and activate the powerful bursts of microwaves that would cause electronics to shutdown.

“These high-powered microwave signals are very effective at disrupting and possibly disabling electronic circuits,” said Mary Lou Robinson, who heads development of the weapons at the Air Force Research Laboratory in Albuquerque, in an exclusive interview with NBC News.