Summary The US military takes the EMP threat seriously, hardening aircraft against potential attacks. The "Doomsday Plane" serves as the US airborne command center and is a top priority for EMP safeguarding. There are discussions of hardening the B-52 Stratofortress bomber against EMP attacks.
As I wrote in an op-ed for 19FortyFive published back on New Year's Day 2023 (and which in turn was an updated and super-condensed version of a research paper I wrote back in 2019 for my Masters in Intelligence Studies online degree program at American Military University [AMU] ), electromagnetic pulse (EMP) attack, if successfully employed by our adversaries, comprises an existential threat to the United States of America. Some may disagree, insisting that the EMP threat is all tinfoil hat conspiracy theory best suited to speculative fiction (such as William R. Forstchen's gripping bestselling 2009 novel One Second After ).
Still, while people are entitled to their opinions, the US Armed Forces take the threat seriously enough to take steps to harden at least some of their aircraft to prevent an EMP attack. Simple Flying now takes a closer look at military aviation EMP prep. EMP in a nutshell Before we discuss how military aircraft are hardened against EMP threat, it behooves us to examine the nature of the threat.
It is best explained by the following diagrams courtesy of Michaela Dodge, Ph.D., Katie Tubb, Thomas Spoehr (a retired US Army Lieutenant General), Jack Spencer and David Inserra of the Heritage Foundation (a prestigious Washington, DC think tank where I happened to intern during my junior year at USC back in 1996): Those Heritage scholars drive home the point further: "A high-altitude nuclear explosion above the continental United States could easily cause widespread failure of, and permanent damage, to the electric grids of entire regions, grinding the U.
S. economy to a halt. With a paralyzed economy come untold deaths—without electricity, almost nothing will work, which means that millions of people will die as a result of not being able to refill medical prescriptions, millions more will be without food, and predictable rioting and looting can quickly create a state of anarchy.
" Cyberattack is another threat vector for EMP; to learn more about this aspect, read " The Hazards of Electro-Magnetic Terrorism " by V. Gurevich, Ph.D.
For another explanation of the EMP attack threat, watch the video below. As my dearly departed former professional acquaintance, the late Dr. Peter Pry (1954-2024) of the Congressional EMP Commission (who was kind enough to let me interview him for my aforementioned graduate-level research paper on EMP threat) was quoted in a March 2021 Live Science article by Edd Gent: "You can use a single weapon to collapse the entire North American power grid," "The Doomsday Plane" This is arguably the best-known example of a US military aircraft hardened against an EMP strike.
Flying to the UK with the call sign of GRIM99, the so-called 'Doomsday Plane' has the capacity for up to 112 passengers and crew members. The "Doomsday Plan" is the morbidly humorous nickname for the Boeing E-4B Advanced Airborne Command Post (AACP) AKA "Nightwatch," a militarized version of the 747-200 operated by the US Air Force (USAF) that serves as the airborne command center for the President of the United States (POTUS), Secretary of Defense (SECDEF), and the Chairmen of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS). Therefore, it's not surprising that this particular aircraft receives top priority for EMP safeguarding.
In the past, the POTUS and SECDEF were collectively known as the National Command Authority (NCA). According to my Simple Flying colleague, Dr. Omar Memon, the E-4B is hardened against EMP via the following methods: Thermal effects shielding Nuclear effects protection Acoustic control Technical control facility Upgraded air-conditioning system Dr.
Memon elaborates: "The aircraft’s specialized electrical system protects it against the effects of electromagnetic pulses...
Thermal and nuclear shielding protects against threats, enabling satellite communication through secure channels. According to the Air Force," “An advanced satellite communications system provides worldwide communication for senior leaders through the airborne operations center. Other improvements include nuclear and thermal effects shielding, acoustic control, an improved technical control facility and an upgraded air-conditioning system for cooling electrical components.
” The E-4B is a highly coveted airborne command and control aircraft. Learn more about the Boeing 747-200 . Buffers for the "BUFF?" More recently, there has been discussion about hardening another famous Boeing-made USAF asset, the venerable and time-honored B-52 Stratofortress strategic bomber, AKA the "BUFF (Big Ugly Fat F*cker").
This makes a lot of sense when you consider that the B-52 was itself designed as, and can still function as, a "doomsday plane" in its own right, i.e., the ability to inflict nuclear doomsday upon America's enemies.
Dylan Malyasov elaborates in a July 2020 article for Defence Blog : "The test utilizes an antenna device that sends electromagnetic energy through the aircraft...
'What we’re verifying is how the aircraft reacts in response to an electromagnetic pulse,' said Jiby Varughese, section chief with the 555th Software Engineering Squadron. 'What happens to the aircraft, how does it perform, is there any damage to the electrical components? That’s what we’re testing here'..
. The team measures the reaction at hundreds of different test points on the aircraft to determine energy absorption locations and levels at key test points." The B-52 is America's most accomplished bomber of the post-WWII era.
Let's take a look at some of this illustrious aircraft's most defining missions..
