April 27, 2005 :: Jane's Information Group :: News
The May edition of Jane’s Missiles and Rockets reports that recent missile tests by Iran may have been part of the development of an Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) warhead. Jane’s cites testimony from the Senate Committee on the Judiciary’s Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security from March 8, 2005, by Peter Pry and Lowell Wood. Wood is a member of the Congressional EMP Commission, which released its important report on the EMP threat in July 2004.
Some of Iran’s tests of its Shahab-3 had been terminated before the completion of their ballistic trajectories, that is, exploding in mid-flight by what appeared to be a self-destruct mechanism. Iran has nevertheless described the tests as fully “successful.” Pry noted that the apparent contradiction would make sense “if Iran were practicing the execution of an EMP attack.” Lowell Wood is quoted as having testified to the subcommittee that such an attack upon the United States could keep off most electrical functions for a time period of a few hours or decades, depending on how it was executed. Wood also warned the subcommittee that such an EMP warhead could be delivered against the United States by “a Scud missile launched from a freighter off the Atlantic coast.”
Senator Jon Kyl (R-AZ), who chairs the Senate Subcommittee on Terrorism, Technology, and Homeland Security, wrote about the EMP threat in the April 15 edition of the Washington Post.
Joseph Farah from World Net Daily carries a related story today, available online.
» July 22, 2004: EMP Commission releases report
» April 15, 2005: Washington Post, Sen. Jon Kyl on the EMP threat
» April 27, 2005: World Net Daily on possible Iran EMP preparations
» Full text of The Report of the Commission to Assess the Threat to the United States from Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Attack
» More stories on: Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) Weapons, Iran, Ship-Launched Threat, Terrorism
» Missile details: Shahab-6, Small ICBM
