Does the US have any non-lethal (I suppose I mean not a nuke) EMP weapons? Is it feasible to make an EMP grenade?
There was a wire story within the past ten days talking about using non-nuclear EMP weapons in the upcoming war with Iraq. According to the story (from memory, can’t find cite at the moment), the military wants to use EMP weapons to disrupt communications. However, this would be detrimental to the civilian population in terms of securing help and assistance, and restoring order once the USA controls the country. So far any decisions to use EMP weapons are on hold out of humantarian concerns.
I saw the same thing, and it was with-in the past 10 days. I saw it on NBC News.
Basically, Baghdad it would be bad for the reasons Duckster said. But for underground bunkers and communication holds it would be good. The spot light I saw demonstrated what they can do with two computers that were plugged in. A small EMP was detonated - if you can call it that - and they both shut down. One went to a white screen.
slight hijack…I just saw a demo on sleeping gas similar to what the Russians used in the theatre disaster. But this was non-lethal and the marines who were subjects were out before they hit the floor… Kinda cool.
I recall during the Kosovo crisis that the US had knocked out the powergrid using a new secret weapon. This is, of course, just a WAG, but from the descriptions I heard at the time it sounded to me very much like a type of EMP weapon had been used.