US unveils chip-zapping 'lightning bomb' to tackle Saddam
Remember the neutron bomb, the radiation-rich atomic weapon of the 1980s designed to kill people while leaving buildings intact? Well now we have a weapon suited for 21st century war – designed to fry electronics while leaving people, mostly, unharmed. Allegedly. High-Power microwave bombs are “man-made lightning bolts crammed into cruise missiles”, Time (somewhat breathlessly describing the bomb as potentially the next “wonder weapon”) reports. According to Time’s Rumsfeld-profiling, techno Gulf War-boosting cover feature, the weapons create powerful electromagnetic pulses that would fry electronics and communications gear over a range of around 300 metres. Full Story