Every war brings out surprises in the form of tactics and technology. During 1991, Operation Desert Storm had demonstrated the importance of airpower in general and precision guided munitions in particular. Satellite guided munitions like JDAMS caught the attention of the world during the recent Afghanistan conflict. Since the beginning of the deployment of the American forces in Iraq it has been predicted that the Americans might showcase E-bomb technology (Electromagnetic bombs) in this theater. It would be of interest to know whether Americans would really use this weapon in days to come particularly over Baghdad region.

Post 9/11, the Americans have accelerated the development of few non-lethal weapons to fight ‘global war against terrorism and WMD’ and production of E-bomb is one major step in this direction. They have probably developed (officially, the Pentagon does not acknowledge the weapon's existence) microwave bombs that emit powerful pulses of energy to destroy enemy electronics, disable communications, and block vehicle ignitions, without hurting bystanders.

In the past, the USAF had successfully used a similar technique based on microwave technology during Kosovo campaign to disable Yugoslavian power grids. Today, High Power Electromagnetic Pulse generation techniques and High Power Microwave technology have matured to a point where practical E-bombs are becoming technically feasible, with new applications in both strategic and tactical information warfare.

It is believed that current American efforts in this field are based on usage of high-temperature superconductors to create intense magnetic fields.  The damage caused by the electromagnetic pulse (EMP) is similar to that of a lightning strike. This electromagnetic shock wave produces a powerful electromagnetic field. This in turn produces short-lived transient voltages of thousands of volts destroying all exposed electrical materials like conductors, wires, integrated circuits, capacitors etc. Theoretically, an E-bomb can unleash electrical power to the tune of 2 billion watts or more.

These non-lethal weapons, which are generally used against machinery, are called direct energy weapons, or Demons. The background to the development of these anti-personal electromagnetic weapons can be traced by to the early 1940’s. This electromagnetic technology is being developed, modified and suitably used internationally for many years by many countries.  During 1989, CNN aired a programme on electromagnetic weapons and showed a US government document that outlined a contingency plan to use EM weapons against "terrorists." Developed countries are carrying out research work in this field of directed energy weapons for many years. The ultimate aim could be to design a weapon, just not to stop the functioning of machinery, but to control human brain. The search is on to locate the exact wavelengths of electromagnetic and sonic spectrums that can affect human behaviour.

Alongside Americans, British scientists have also developed a non-explosive artillery shell that can release a powerful burst of radio-frequency energy capable of destroying or disabling electrical and electronic systems for miles around without killing anyone. The E-bomb works by being fired from a long-range 155 mm artillery gun or MLRS rocket launcher and then breaking open its outer casing over the target. The shell or rocket then unfolds its radio transmitter aerials and the transmitter sends a high-powered radio pulse of billions of watts that lasts just a few nanoseconds.

In the ongoing Iraq war, the allied ground forces may be interested to use E-bomb technology to explode artillery shells in mid-flight. The Navy may be interested to use the E-bomb's high-power microwave pulses to neutralize anti-ship missiles fired at them. And, the Air Force must be keen to equip its bombers, strike fighters, cruise missiles and unmanned aerial vehicles with E-bomb capabilities.

Most of the modern military platforms are densely packed with electronic equipment, and unless these platforms are well hardened, an EMP device can substantially reduce their function or render them unusable.  All Iraqi radar and electronic warfare equipment, satellite, microwave, UHF, VHF, HF and low band communications equipment and television equipment are all potentially vulnerable to the EMP effect.

In the first phase of war, American or British forces have not yet used this weapon. So the question is will they use it for a final assault or are they finding it unproductive to use this weapon? However the way war has progressed so far indicates that more than the Iraqi forces it is the American and British forces who are more dependent on latest technology and hence are more vulnerable to E-bomb (luckily Iraq doesn’t have one).

E-bombs are effective against technologies like high-density digital electronics using CMOS (Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor), microwave band hardware technologies, etc. But the tools and tactics used by Iraq like suicide bombers, urban warfare, burning of oil wells and human shields does not indicate that they are heavily dependent on high tech electronic systems; hence the efficacy of using E-bomb in the Iraq theater is highly questionable.