Gone is the 20th century, yet the 21st century is just getting underway.
Advancements in digital technology aside, the way we still wage war, and indeed many parts of our lives are hangovers from the 20th century.
We still drive cars, the roads are still made of asphalt, our computers all run on binary code, and we still use commercial jets to travel to other countries.
As much as things have changed, they haven’t really. There is ‘nothing new under the sun,’ as religious and spiritual authorities have told us.
In terms of war, we still use tanks, aircraft carriers, and now unmanned drones, but aside from the fact that a drone has no human pilot inside of it, it is still conventional flight technology.
Yet something extremely concerning happens when these drones operate in synchronicity—drone swarms are born.
Drone swarms can actually be really cool and harmless when they are used to create giant 3D images in the sky, as one can witness today in China.
They can also be used to launch military attacks using explosives or other mechanisms to exact damage; that’s why the Pentagon is now seeking an EMP weapon to deal with such drone swarms.
According to a new listing on the SAM.Gov website, the Pentagon has put out a contract for a lightweight EMP weapon to disable or act as a deterrent against such drone swarms.
This is all good and well, but my question is: why now? Drone swarms have been a thing for a long time now, is there something the Pentagon is prepping for?
Here’s what we currently know about the new contract listing for an EMP weapon from the Pentagon:
Here’s the listing from the SAM.Gov website:
The Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL/RI) is conducting market research to seek information from industry on the landscape of research and development (R&D) for available Electromagnetic Pulse (EMP) solutions towards countering multiple Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS).
EMP solutions could be ground and/or aerial based that provide effective mitigation against Department of Defense (DoD) UAS groups 1, 2, and smaller group 3 aircraft.
MINIMUM AIRCRAFT REQUIREMENTS:
Any EMP solutions hosted on air vehicles will have to be determined to be air-worthy by the Government. DoD must comply with the following general restrictions on UAS:
The air vehicle must be based on or derived from U.S. components and electronics.
The air vehicle must have sufficient flight hours and reliability data.
Activist Post explained: “Faced with the reality that drones are reshaping the modern battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza, the Pentagon has been tasked with finding a budget-friendly #EMP solution to eliminate these “flying IEDs.”
Faced with the reality that drones are reshaping the modern battlefields in Ukraine and Gaza, the Pentagon has been tasked with finding a budget-friendly #EMP solution to eliminate these "flying IEDs."https://t.co/n6GV4cP7eu
— Activist Post (@ActivistPost) December 14, 2023
One individual shared various headlines in an attempt to paint a broader picture: “Air Force offering up to $600,000 in new bonuses to keep experienced aviators ― Military·com. Pentagon eyes EMP to thwart drone swarms — NewsMax. DF-26B: China has a missile that could sink a navy aircraft carrier from 2500 miles away.”
Air Force offering up to $600,000 in new bonuses to keep experienced aviators ― Military·com
Pentagon eyes EMP to thwart drone swarms — NewsMax
DF-26B: China has a missile that could sink a navy aircraft carrier from 2500 miles away https://t.co/9DbKP1D7m9
— Huguenot (@HughBramlett) December 11, 2023
Newsmax writes:
While the contract calls for how an EMP can be used in a defensive capacity against drones, according to a report by the Washington Examiner on Monday, several U.S. adversaries already have an offensive EMP attack plan.
These plans rely on nuclear explosions in the atmosphere targeting electric grids.
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