It is amazing how little attention this topis gets in news. No wonder - why talk about it if civilian infrastructure can't be protected from it? Cheap to manufacture, no smuggling required. One could even use conventional weapon and then follow up with this toy to maximize damage by preventing resque efforts. I would like to be wrong on this issue.... http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/munitions/hpm.htm http://www.sftt.org/dwa/2003/1/22/8.html
" .....This is not science fiction. Several labs have already run full-scale tests of these devices. Even now, the U.S. Navy is preparing to install them in cruise missiles (in fact, may already have done so), and to install them shipboard to disable incoming missiles. The Air Force is readying several of its unmanned planes to carry sophisticated versions of the E-bomb. And both the Navy and Air Force are investigating how best to install the devices in manned aircraft. The Army is investigating how to explode artillery shells in mid-flight. Will these weapons be used in the forthcoming conflict with Iraq? Almost certainly. They are most effective when deployed against a high-tech opponent, but Iraq is still a modern nation in the sense that it depends upon electricity and electronics in a significant way. Expect to see, therefore, High Power Microwave (HPM) devices directed against Iraq's industrial centers in the first few days of the war. ..... What we don't know is what level of E-bomb weaponry has fallen into al Qaeda's hands. Exact instructions for constructing one of the $400 devices are not readily available, but it won't take long for al Qaeda's American university-trained engineers to find the right combination. A tip for U.S. intelligence agencies: Look for unexplained power outages in remote locations during the next several months, as al Qaeda operatives work the bugs out of their home-made E-bombs. And then, stand by â¦. "