James:
One tidbit I recently learned less than a week ago: non-nuclear EMP bombs are actually easy and cheap to make Its a permanent magnet, a coil, an antenna, and a bomb to push the magnet past the coil. The enormous electrical energy is released through the antenna causes a powerful EMP to be released, depending on the size of the device used. These tend to be heavy so I doubt you’ll see big ones flying around but a truck or railcar sized bomb would be really potent, possibly covering a dozen mile radius. Shipping containers probably won’t work that well, as the metal walls would partially contain the energy. Keep in mind that the strength decreases with the distance, just like any radio signal. That’s your area of expertise. You’d probably be able to learn something about this for your readers and write up a quick report on the danger/effects. Its amazing to see how easy it is, though. A friend of mine in high tech told me: this is how First World countries will fight wars. Set these off in/over cities and take out the credit card [processing infrastructure], the cell phones, the computer networks and then sit back and watch them tear themselves apart. Best, – InyoKern
Letter Re: Non-Nuclear Electro Magnetic Pulse Weapons
