In previous item about a strangely primitive tube-based spy rig, I casually dismissed transistors as not ready for prime time. That was true in the early ’50s, but Russian equipment famously stuck with tubes long after transistors were generally reliable and consistent.

Sputnik used submini tubes while our satellites used transistors. Sputnik got there first, which says that tubes were still fully competitive even in small and light equipment.

The conventional reason for the Russian caution is EMP. Supposedly Russia was afraid that we might hit them with a high-altitude nuke.

In reality EMP never happened. Not fucking once. We had plenty of chances to use it, and “terrorists” had plenty of chances to use it. EMP has been a potential (heh) threat for 75 years, and nobody has ever tried it.

Now that I’m more familiar with the capabilities and behaviors of UFOs, maybe it’s time to revise the hypothesis.

Russia was protecting its equipment from UFOs, not from EMP.

There’s plenty of doubt about the origin and ownership of UFOs, but one thing is certain from reliable reports:

UFOs had a powerful electric field.

I’m inclined to believe that UFOs were American, not Martian or Venusian. This would also fit the unique Russian desire for protection. We didn’t need to protect our equipment from our own weapon.

Some observers also measured high radiation readings where UFOs had landed or approached the ground. This measurement is far less definite than the electric field because it was infrequent and lacked baseline comparisons. If the radiation measurements were valid, they would imply that the electric field was generated by fission, just like the alleged EMP.

Was EMP a polite way of saying UFO?