BEIJING, July 22 (UPI) -- China is developing electromagnetic pulse weapons Beijing could use against U.S. aircraft carriers in any future conflict over Taiwan, a U.S. report says.
The EMPs are part of China's so-called "assassin's mace" arsenal to allow a technologically inferior China to defeat U.S. military forces, the report by the National Ground Intelligence Center said.
The declassified 2005 intelligence report provides details on China's EMPs and plans for their use, The Washington Times reported Friday.
EMPs mimic a gamma-ray pulse caused by a nuclear blast and can disable all electronics, including computers and automobiles, over wide areas.
"For use against Taiwan, China could detonate at a much lower altitude (30 to 40 kilometers) ... to confine the EMP effects to Taiwan and its immediate vicinity and minimize damage to electronics on the mainland," the report said.
Chinese military writings have discussed building low-yield EMP warheads but "it is not known whether [the Chinese] have actually done so," the report concluded.
