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I remember reading a review on EMP weapons in Nature magazine some time back. The conclusion was, that it is nearly impossible to reliably knock out equipment w

I remember reading a review on EMP weapons in Nature magazine some time back. The conclusion was, that it is nearly impossible to reliably knock out equipment without precise knowledge of the setup, weather conditions, etc... Here's the original article: http://www.nature.com/news/microwave-weapons-wasted-energy-1.11396 http://www.nature.com/news/microwave-weapons-wasted-energy-1... And a quote from it: "... a prototype non-lethal crowd-control weapon that emits a beam of microwaves at 95 gigahertz. Radiation at that frequency penetrates less than half a millimetre into the skin, so the beam was supposed to deliver an intense burning sensation to anyone in its path, forcing them to move away, but without, in theory, causing permanent damage. However, the day of the test was cold and rainy. The water droplets in the air did what moisture always does: they absorbed the microwaves. And when some of the reporters volunteered to expose themselves to the attenuated beam, they found that on such a raw day, the warmth was very pleasant."

dchichkov 14y ago
And that's what I'd really love to see - EMP that detonates roadside bombs, rather than knocking out equipment. I understand that IEDs usually have some electronics, right? It looks like there've been some efforts to develop these "The Air Force Research Laboratory developed an HPM system called MAXPOWER to detonate roadside bombs remotely, but it was the size of an articulated lorry — too unwieldy to be deployed in Afghanistan. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, the defence department's bomb-fighting agency, declined to discuss the system, citing classification issues. But it did say that, as of 2011, it was not funding MAXPOWER.", but again, largely unsuccessful. I imagine that it is too wasteful to EMP roadside bombs with explosive magnetic pulse sources. And non-explosive sources are too bulky...

dchichkov 14y ago

And that's what I'd really love to see - EMP that detonates roadside bombs, rather than knocking out equipment. I understand that IEDs usually have some electronics, right? It looks like there've been some efforts to develop these "The Air Force Research Laboratory developed an HPM system called MAXPOWER to detonate roadside bombs remotely, but it was the size of an articulated lorry — too unwieldy to be deployed in Afghanistan. The Joint Improvised Explosive Device Defeat Organization, the defence department's bomb-fighting agency, declined to discuss the system, citing classification issues. But it did say that, as of 2011, it was not funding MAXPOWER.", but again, largely unsuccessful. I imagine that it is too wasteful to EMP roadside bombs with explosive magnetic pulse sources. And non-explosive sources are too bulky...