From: roger_sf@postoffice.sandybay.utas.edu.au (Roger Fleming)
Newsgroups: alt.engr.explosives
Subject: Re: EMP w/ hi-explosives
Date: 4 Dec 1995 13:42:18 GMT
Organization: University of Tasmania
Lines: 21

ez048853@rocky.ucdavis.edu (Aaron Mchugh) wrote:

>         Is it possible to create an electro-magnetic pulse with high 
> explosives? What's the theory behind it?

Yes, apparently the USAF has such a device for testing EMP hardened
equipment. It is also claimed that the xUSSR has a man portable
directional device for Spetsnaz to use sabotaging CCC facilities.

As to how they work, we can only really guess. It is known that if a
powerful magnetic field is generated inside a conductive cavity, and
that cavity is then crushed with explosives, a significant proportion
of the explosive energy can be converted to electrical energy. This
method is used experimentally for generating very high intensity
transient magnetic fields or currents.

So possibly we have a carefully shaped conductive liner which is
primed with a pulse of current from a capacitor, which also fires the
shaped charges to crush the liner. The shape of the liner would govern
the efficiency of energy conversion, possibly resonant frequencies,
and also act as a highly directional horn antenna.