Boeing's CHAMP Missile Uses Radio Waves To Remotely Disable PCs

Dupple writes "During last week's test, a CHAMP (Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project) missile successfully disabled its target by firing high power microwaves into a building filled with computers and other electronics. 'On Oct. 16th at 10:32 a.m. MST a Boeing Phantom Works team along with members from the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) Directed Energy Directorate team, and Raytheon Ktech, suppliers of the High Power Microwave source, huddled in a conference room at Hill Air Force Base and watched the history making test unfold on a television monitor. CHAMP approached its first target and fired a burst of High Power Microwaves at a two story building built on the test range. Inside rows of personal computers and electrical systems were turned on to gauge the effects of the powerful radio waves. Seconds later the PC monitors went dark and cheers erupted in the conference room. CHAMP had successfully knocked out the computer and electrical systems in the target building. Even the television cameras set up to record the test were knocked off line without collateral damage.'"

Comments

Yea!... I mean No.

[MyLongNickName]

On the one hand I love reading about science stories. On the other, I am frankly tired of spending billions of dollars to prove the US has the biggest penis. Please cut our military spending 50 percent, focus on diplomacy and better targeted aid. Fund alternative energy to reduce our reliance on dictatorships.

Re:Yea!... I mean No.

[SJHillman]

I think this is a pretty good use of our military budget. It knocks out enemy electronics without collateral damage. If it hits the wrong target, no civilian casualties. Granted, it's not too difficult to shield against, but that costs a fair bit of money and not everyplace can easily be shielded. If you can take out enemy electronics, you can effectively kill their communications and even a good portion of their mobility... which are probably the two most important elements in any conflict.

Re:Yea!... I mean No.

[Nadaka]

No casualties...

Except everyone with a pacemaker.

And everyone hooked up on life support.

And most of the people flying through the area.

And most of the people driving at high speed through the area.

Re:Yea!... I mean No.

[TheGratefulNet]

obama was right. lower the defense (cough, I mean offense) spending.

the hawks have had too good a time for too long. and we have all suffered due to the fact that there is limited funding and the asshole military leaders keep taking MORE than their fair share of the nation's wealth.

I'm tired of this bullshit spending!

cut it 50%. cut it 80%.

put the money back in the us where our own infrastructure is rotting away before our very eyes!

you know, money can work as well (or better) for peacetime things, too. just in case the last decade made you forget.

Re:Yea!... I mean No.

[daem0n1x]

My point is that maybe you guys should invest your money on improving people's lives instead of inventing new sophisticated ways of killing people and destroying stuff. The world desperately needs a lot of new things, but new weapons are not in that list.

Re:Yea!... I mean No.

[ScentCone]

The world desperately needs a lot of new things

Like, for example, more people with a basic education and some critical thinking skills. All the really good stuff comes easily afer that, everywhere it happens.

The problem is that there are organizations dedicated to preventing that from happening. You know, marching into a school, dragging the teacher out into the town square, and shooting her in the head for ... teaching. Especially for teaching girls how to read and write. So, you know those guys, half a dozen of them riding around in the back of a pickup truck with AK47s? They need to be stopped from killing people who want to do things like read, write, and have a rational government with little things like constitutions and the rule of law. And guess what! Sometimes you have to use actual force to shut those guys down.

Now, clearly you don't like the idea of surgical strikes, drones, etc., because you'd rather deal with guys like that and the camps where they gather by sending in a column of troops, armor, supply chains, and doing it all with on-the-ground firefights. Because, presumably, you'd like those guys to have lots of warning that the troops are coming, and you think that ground combat involves an acceptable (to you) number of casualties on the part of those defending the schools, and an acceptable amount of carnage and destruction from urban street-level combat. Why you'd rather have all of that mayhem and death and civilians-in-the-crossfire stuff instead of using modern technology to minimize it is a bit of a mystery. But I'm sure it all starts with your obsession with "you guys" instead of with girls who want to be educated.

Industrial terrorism

[Progman3K]

Welcome to the age of industrial terrorism.

Aluminum Foil

[mbone]

So, the bad guys (junior grade) have to go out and buy aluminum foil to shield their gear.

The bad guys, senior grade, are worried about Tempest and already have shielding. (Note - if a missile can knock your monitor out, and that is a worry to you, you should also assume that a drone can pick up what the monitor is displaying.)

Re:Faradays cage

[bmo]

>Nope, a Faraday cage is not 100% effective against microwaves

Microwave oven manufacturers would disagree with you. It's not magic.

--
BMO

Re:Faradays cage

[robot256]

Further investigation will likely explain this better, but two possibilities are: Your microwave is slightly defective, or the interference is actually coming from the power cord, which the microwave is parasitically coupled to as an antenna. All sorts of electronics introduce noise on the power lines in your house, that's why they make fancy surge protectors with "filtered" outlets that reduce said noise from entering other devices.