The system is based on a network of wall sections that were connected to a firestorm generator. These panels discharged a continuous, impassable, and destructive energy field above them, high enough to even destroy incoming missile and aircraft, although it cannot provide "roof" protection (the field cannot bend inward or outward since is a vertical electromagnetic "wall" where charged plasma atoms run up and down) as smart cruise missile can adapt to its pattern and seek an opening (in the sky) on it. The field was impenetrable to any ordnance and impassable to any unit, except for Nod's subterranean vehicles or a specific energy based weapon. Any unit that was located on a Firestorm Defense panel when it was activated was immediately destroyed.