Washington (CNN) With Kim Jong Un pushing aggressively to develop missiles that could hit the United States with nuclear warheads, pressure has been mounting on US officials to answer the threat. One effective countermeasure could lie in an obscure military lab in New Mexico.

It's called CHAMP, for Counter-electronics High Power Microwave Advanced Missile Project. James Fisher, spokesman for the Air Force Research Lab at Kirtland Air Force Base, said it's a high-powered microwave weapon that can be delivered on an air-launched cruise missile, deployed from an American bomber.

Fisher says the cruise missile with a CHAMP system strapped to it would fly into enemy airspace at low altitude, and send out strong pulses of electromagnetic energy. The enemy's electronic command-and-control systems would be jammed. Analysts say the cruise missile it's deployed on could then be splashed down at sea.

The Air Force says CHAMP was not developed specifically to counter the North Korean threat. But retired Gen. David Deptula, who once headed US Air Force intelligence, said the applications could be effective against North Korea.

Retired Air Force intelligence officer Col. Cedric Leighton went further, saying CHAMP could be a game-changer with North Korea.

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