Ever since a British general named Henry Shrapnel showed what could happen if artillery shells burst in the air, instead of on impact with the ground, humans have been finding more efficient ways of completing the "air burst." The military types call it "anti-personnel" ammunition. That's euphemism for bloody hell.
Air bursts are more effective, efficient, and deadly than regular gravity-aided bombs. Air bursts kill more people on the ground if they explode above it. When an artillery round hits the dirt, a lot of the metal goes into the dirt--and what good is that for killing people? But explode it up high, and you cover more acreage.
As warfare has evolved--that is, devolved--generals have been figuring out the best/worst ways to use nuclear weapons to their benefit, too. And the nuclear air burst has the same efficiencies as the iron-and-steel based munitions. But the nuke has an extra added bonus: It creates an "electromagnetic pulse" that--to put it in elevated IT language--fries the innards of computers. Even from the very beginning of nuclear weapons tests in the 1940s, scientists have been tracking this phenomenon.
Which is why this Chinese balloon thing still worries.
A nuclear weapon detonated above the United States could trigger this electromagnetic pulse, and all but shut down the grid. That is, everything. From satellites to cellphones to traffic lights to emergency hospital equipment. The United States government says a 1.4 megaton bomb over Kansas would destroy most of the electronics in the continental United States.
So while the late-night comics might be having some fun with the Chinese balloon that was seen creeping around above until shot down over water, Americans can only hope that this hasn't been one big practice run.
Because the Red Chinese know about this electromagnetic pulse thing, too.
In fact, it's part of their war plan.
Forbes issued a report about two years ago that noted a Homeland Security report on Red China's EMP ability. The ChiComs, this task force report says, have stolen enough technology from the West to black out the entire United States should they desire to, say, take Taiwan the next day.
"The key takeaway, according to Dr. Peter Pry, executive director of the task force, is that China now has super-EMP weapons, knows how to protect itself against an EMP attack, and has developed protocols to conduct a first-strike attack, even as they deny they would ever do so."
Imagine if the Japanese had had the ability to cut all communications in the United States, and turn off every light in the country, just before Pearl Harbor. Speaking of Pearl Harbor, an EMP blast over the Pacific could affect military operations for our blue water Navy, too. (Although some of us remember that the military is supposed to have its equipment EMP-proofed; but it's been a while since we were in uniform.)
Doubtless the U.S. has people on it, watching the radar for blips incoming. And we'd like to think military tech has advanced to the point that the guys and gals on the wall can hit a bullet with a bullet, and knock out a missile intent on causing EMP problems.
But what about the equivalent of a bow-and-arrow on the modern battlefield? What about the possibility of something so low-tech and antiquated that it's not expected?
What about a balloon? Carrying a payload.
CNN reports that this isn't the first time that the Red Chinese have floated balloons over American air space. And that it happened during the Trump administration, too.
But that was only discovered after President Biden took office.
So you're telling us that the ChiComs have sent these balloons before, and they went unnoticed at the time? Or did the Trump administration keep the lid on the matter, and the Biden administration is now letting it become public? Some clarification is in order on that, please.
This balloon uproar is not just much ado about nothing, as much as Beijing would like for it to be. The Chinese and the Americans have had serious run-ins before. See the accidental bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade during the NATO bombing of Yugoslavia. Or the time the Chinese pilot knocked an American military plane out of the sky in the early, pre-911 days of the George W. Bush administration.
But none of those incidents could have been taken as a practice-run for a first strike. This balloon thing has such possibilities.
Last month, four-star U.S. Air Force general Mike Minihan sent a memo to officers under his command, predicting that the United States will be at war with Red China in two years, and basically told them to get ready: "I hope that I am wrong," he wrote. "My gut tells me [we] will fight in 2025."
Let's hope his gut is wrong, yes.
But let's assume the worst the next time a balloon floats in from mainland China.
To wit: Shoot down the damned thing over the Pacific, not the Atlantic.