nuclear-news

How a nuclear bomb in space could bring devastating cyber war

Terror bomb detonated in space ‘could cripple Britain’s electronic networks and jeopardise national security’ Daily Mail, By IAN DRURY 22nd February 2012 Rogue states and terror groups could launch nuclear attacks in space to cripple Britain’s electronic networks and jeopardise national security, a report warns today.
Weapons detonated up to 500 miles above the Earth would generate a massive electromagnetic pulse, knocking out satellites, radar and the National Grid with ‘devastating’ results.
Key military installations, transport systems, power and water
supplies would be hit, wreaking havoc, claims the Commons Defence
Select Committee…..

Two years ago, then defence secretary Liam Fox warned the impact of a
nuclear attack in space would be worse than a direct strike like the
one on Hiroshima in 1945.
The report warns countries such as Iran, whose hardline Islamic regime
is resisting pressure to scrap its nuclear programme, could acquire
the technology to detonate a high altitude nuclear device.
Eventually terror groups including Al Qaeda could get their hands on
such a weapon, it predicts.
The report adds: ‘While the risk may at present be low, the potential
impact of such a weapon could be devastating and long-lasting  for UK
infrastructure.
‘The Government cannot therefore be complacent about this threat.
Detonating a nuclear device in the upper atmosphere would create
electromagnetic pulses (EMPs) that could inflict “severe damage” to
electrical equipment over thousands of square miles.’

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2104482/Terror-bomb-detonated-space-cripple-UK.html?ito=feeds-newsxml

February 22, 2012 - Posted by Christina Macpherson | UK, weapons and war