
How big a threat is an electromagnetic attack? - hhs
https://www.apnews.com/0fe9a3d844bb410ba9b1d2abf1ee200c
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PaulHoule
Non-nuclear electromagnetic pulse generators are a real weapon that I think is
more significant than the nuclear EMP that people are afraid of. Here is one
example:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmf032NmHU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hlmf032NmHU)

Many amateurs have demonstrated disruption or destruction of electronic
devices at short range with magnetron tubes from microwave ovens. I think
those military prototypes use travelling wave tubes, they could probably be
made more compact and efficient with gallium nitride transistors.

The big avantage for anti-drone use is that the energy costs pennies per shot
as compared to scaled down AA weapons such as Iron Dome that are more like
$50,000 a shot.

That same kind of device could wreck electronics at ground targets too,
probably even be mounted on a plane.

Note also that the nuclear electromagnetic pulse is produced by a plasma
explosion, that is, if you have an explosion where the temperature is high
enough to ionize the gas, the electrons will leave the scene of the explosion
faster than the ions, so you will get a temporary charge separation that
produces a pulse.

The same thing can happen when a fast pulse laser hits a target and ablates
the surface, or when a meteorite hits a satellite in space. The effect is much
weaker, but it is at point-blank range and might be the dominant kill
mechanism in those situations.

(Note that antipersonnel laser weapons that use a fast pulse won't "burn a
hole" in the target but instead cause a flash-bang like effect where EMP
contributes to localized pain and discombobulation in addition to a knock-down
effect caused by the ablation of a tiny amount of material, not enough to
cause major tissue damage. Thus it really is like a "phaser set to stun")

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noir_lord
Interesting post, (as an aside I wonder how many watch lists HN users get put
on in a particular day considering some of the links we click).

~~~
maxerickson
Tautologically, ~0 that mean anything.

