[Marcella]

You can believe whoever wrote that OR you can believe the man I spoke with a few months ago who actually worked for the Defense Department for years and worked along side the man who is now heading that for government now. I can look up his name if you wish due to it is his name on the document as chairman of the group of scientists who came to the same conclusion as him and the man I talked with. I have twice put that report on here when EMPs were brought up.

The man I talked with and his friend who is now in charge of our defense against EMPs were given the job by Department of Defense to figure out what the damage would be for every type of EMP and design a method for protecting our large weapon systems (really large - can you say nuclear and missile systems, plus others he could not mention). They did that and protected those weapons that required an electrical connection to the grid. So, if an enemy tries to kill us with an EMP, we can kill them back (credit to Ron White comedian for "kill them back"). At least we could if freaking Hussein wasn't the president.

No matter the origin of an EMP, if you are within the area affected and have a device plugged into the grid it will fry. However, if it is a nuclear EMP it will only affect the range of the blast. The higher up the blast occurs, the more land area is included, but again, only those items plugged in will fry. Out of the range of the blast, nothing plugged in is fried. Such a blast on the west coast won't fry anything out of range, so it would cover part of the US, but not as far as the east coast.

Autos will not fry - if they are running at the time, some may shut down but when started again they are fine. Trucks/autos/ambulances, were all tested and a few stopped then started again.

I specifically asked him about planes that are flying at the time of an EMP - he said they will not drop out of the sky - they may hesitate but the pilot can recover the plane easily. The aluminum body helps protect the plane.

Again, there is no one who knows more about EMPs and damage than these two men - I believe what they say as they have lived it. Faraday cages are not necessary, but go ahead and build one if it makes you happy.

[Kartographer]

Looks like some good information Marcella. For sure it is 1000% times better then the FReepers who have posted to me that there is no such thing as EMP at all!

[BigpapaBo]

I’d like to add..
The Starfish Prime high altitude EMP test that was done in the 60’s.
Seems that the large, W49 warhead (1.4mt’s) which was detonated over 250 miles up, caused quite a bit of “disturbances” over a widespread area.
Also
Our electronics warfare aircraft (EA-6B and F-18 Growlers) can and DO effectivley shut down unprotected electronics as they fly in their operating areas. Usually radars and guidance equipment, but can also disrupt other systems. I’ve personally seen this.

[RFEngineer]

“Again, there is no one who knows more about EMPs and damage than these two men - I believe what they say as they have lived it. Faraday cages are not necessary, but go ahead and build one if it makes you happy. “

I know more about them then the two men who supposedly work for the defense department.

THeir information is erroneous. Sorry.

[AU72]

I remember in 1987 when I worked at Computerland I got a bid from the Naval Undersea Warfare Center for ‘Ruggedized IBM PCs’. The specs as I remember included electric shielding.