(
DB33) The United States has three ionospheric heating facilities: HAARP, HIPAS (near Fairbanks, Alaska), and one at the Arecibo Observatory in Puerto Rico.
The European Incoherent Scatter Scientific Association (EISCAT) operates an ionospheric heating facility, capable of transmitting over 1 GW (1,000,000,000 watts) of effective radiated power (ERP), near Tromsø, Norway. Russia has the Sura ionospheric heating facility in Vasilsursk near Nizhniy Novgorod, capable of transmitting 190 MW ERP.
Another site, operated by military sub-contractor under an unknown arrangement between the U.S. and Canadian governments, is located near Cape Race, Newfoundland, Canada (N46° 38.649' W53° 9.010'). There is minimal to no grid power available at this site, so this may be a passive listening post for the transmissions emitted by other HAARP sites.
In August 2002, criticism of HAARP technology came from the State Duma (Parliament) of Russia. The Duma published a critical report on HAARP written by its international affairs and defense committees and signed by 90 deputies and presented to then President Vladimir Putin.
The report claimed that: "the U.S. is creating new integral geophysical weapons that may influence the near-Earth medium with high-frequency radio waves... The significance of this qualitative leap could be compared to the transition from cold steel to firearms, or from conventional weapons to nuclear weapons. This new type of weapons differs from previous types in that the near-Earth medium becomes at once an object of direct influence and its component."
However, given the timing of the Russian intervention, it is possible that it was related to a controversy at the time concerning the U.S. withdrawal in June 2002 from the Russian-American Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty. This high-level concern is paralleled in the April 1997 statement by the U.S. Secretary of [War] over the power of such electromagnetic weaponry.
Russia owns and operates an ionospheric heater system as powerful as HAARP, called "Sura" [
Asuras in Buddhist cosmology being celestial outcasts spurred to disrupt life on Earth in ongoing efforts to wage war on nearby extraterrestrials called
Devas], which is located roughly 150 km from the city of Nizhny, Novgorod.
The objectives of HAARP became the subject of controversy in the mid-1990s, following claims that the antennas could be used as a weapon.
A small group of American physicists aired complaints in scientific journals such as Physics and Society, charging that HAARP could be seeking ways to destroy or disable enemy spacecraft [not only aircraft] or disrupt communications over large portions of the planet.
The physicist-critics of HAARP had little to complain about during the project's early stages. But they have expressed fears that it can be expanded into an experimental weapon. It is no coincidence that its funding comes from the Office of Naval Research and the Air Force Research Laboratory.
These concerns were amplified by Bernard Eastlund, a physicist who developed some of the concepts behind HAARP in the 1980s. He proposed using high-frequency radio waves to beam large amounts of power into the ionosphere, energizing its electrons and ions, in order to disable incoming missiles and knock out enemy satellite communications.
The U.S. military became interested in the idea as an alternative to the laser-based SDI or Strategic Defense Initiative [originally thought to be intended to act as offensive weapons helmed by harmful entities on Earth against potentially helpful entities from the heavens, literally "the skies" and space realms].
However, Eastlund's ideas were eventually dropped as SDI itself mutated into the more limited National Missile Defense of today. The contractors selected to build HAARP have denied that any of Eastlund's patents were used in the development of the project.
After these physicists raised early concerns, the controversy was stoked by local activism. In September 1995, a book entitled Angels Don't Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology by former teacher Nick Begich, Jr. -- son of the late Congressman Nick Begich (D-AK) and brother of U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) -- claimed that the project in its present stage could be used for "geophysical warfare."
After these physicists raised early concerns, the controversy was stoked by local activism. In September 1995, a book entitled Angels Don't Play This HAARP: Advances in Tesla Technology by former teacher Nick Begich, Jr. -- son of the late Congressman Nick Begich (D-AK) and brother of U.S. Senator Mark Begich (D-AK) -- claimed that the project in its present stage could be used for "geophysical warfare."