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Re: EMP weapons?!?



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> Someone just told me that allied forces used EMP rockets during desert
> storm? Tell-Tale?

Probably not true, or else, probably not quite correct.  

In order to generate RF energy (EMP = electromagnetic pulse, RF = 
radio-frequency), you have to have some source of power.  For a missile, your 
overwhelming constraints are size and weight--your power supply has to be 
/small/.  And also has to be capable of discharging a spectacular amount of 
energy in order to provide enough RF to knock out nearby electronics.

It's possible that you could get a capacitor up to that high an energy level, 
but that strikes me as ... well, speculative in the first place, and 
incredibly dangerous for ground crews in the second place.

While theoretically possible, I'm skeptical.

- -- 
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Robert J. Hansen <rjhansen@inav.net>
PGP Fingerprint: 23C8 C3D1 BBE7 C72D D17D  D008 980E 18A7 82C2 392B 
AIM: TheCipherpunk  ICQ: 14737662
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