Newswise — In these media-fueled times, when war is a television spectacle and wiping out large numbers of civilians is generally frowned upon, the perfect weapon would literally stop an enemy in his tracks, yet harm neither hide nor hair. Such a weapon might shut down telecommunication networks, disrupt power supplies, and fry an adversary's computers and electronic gadgets, yet still leave buildings, bridges, and highways intact. It would strike with precision, in an instant, and leave behind no trace of its source. In fact, it almost certainly is already here, in the form of high-power microwave (HPM) weapons. HPMs generate an intense "blast" of electromagnetic waves strong enough to overload and even melt electrical circuitry. People caught in the burst of a microwave weapon, by contrast, might not even know they'd been hit.
The U.S. military has actively pursued microwave weapons since the 1940s, but, as Michael Abrams reports in the November 2003 issue of IEEE Spectrum, those efforts are largely classified. Over the last decade, however, a number of U.S. university labs have been working out the basic principles of microwave weapons, and many of their results are being published in the open literature. In his report, Abrams talks to one of the leading researchers in the field, about his work to refine the technology.
Meanwhile, crude electromagnetic weapons are readily available right now. More than 20 countries have programs to develop some type of radiofrequency weapon, and criminals and pranksters have already started exploiting them. Shielding oneself from a microwave attack is not all that difficult--but few people realize the importance of doing so. And, as the world becomes more wired, we all become more vulnerable.
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