DIA Document Details High-Power Microwave Weapons Threat

A declassified DIA reference document provides an overview of pulsed high-power microwave source technology, describing HPM as a directed-energy weapon that can disable electronics without a nuclear detonation. The document notes that small-scale HPM devices could be attractive to terrorist groups due to their low cost and the vulnerability of U.S. electronic equipment.

Published

September 14, 2026

Declassified

Date not listed

Source agency

The Black Vault (FOIA archive)

diafoiadetailshighpowermicrowaveweaponsthreat

DIA Reference Document Maps Pulsed HPM Threat Landscape

The Defense Agency reference document titled Pulsed High-Power Microwave Source Technology is dated 28 January 2010, with a read date of 1 December 2009, and carries the administrative identifier DIA-08-0912-005. It is marked UNCLASSIFIED and reached the public through the FOIA archive maintained by The Black Vault, which hosts the file alongside the Advanced Aerospace Weapon System Applications Program documentation. The document's stated purpose is to survey the current state of pulsed high-power microwave sources and the technologies driving their development, organized around critical technologies: insulation, cathode materials, high-voltage switching, pulse sources, and antennas.

What makes the record notable is not any single device but the framing. HPM weapons are categorized as directed-energy weapons that can damage electronics without a nuclear detonation, and the document states that HPM sources for electronic attack can provide peak powers in excess of 10 gigawatts. That combination — non-nuclear employment at gigawatt-class output —…

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Based on the official release at https://www.theblackvault.com/documentarchive/the-advanced-aerospace-weapon-system-applications-program-aawsap-documentation/

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