XIX Sympozjum Srodowiskowe PTZE - materialy.pdf

Introduction
XIX Sympozjum PTZE, Worliny 2009
ARE ELECTROMAGNETIC NON-LETHAL
WEAPONS HARMLESS?
Jarosław Kieliszek, Jaromir Sobiech
Military Institute of Hygiene and Epidemiology, Warsaw
Electromagnetic weapons are the means and systems that generate and direct electromagnetic
energy in order to degrade the enemy activities or destruct the enemy equipment. The
employment of electromagnetic weapons has many advantages over conventional systems. That
are for example: 1) very rapid effect against the targets, 2) threat to underground target, 3)
destruction or denial of activities of electronic assets at selected levels of warfare [7]. Moreover
there are only scraps of information how these weapons interact with human body and as a
result of that a common opinion was born electromagnetic weapon does not severely harm
people and without remorse can be used even on the high populated area behind enemy lines.
How does the electromagnetic weapon work?
The fundamental idea of the electromagnetic weapon directed against electronic equipment is
that it produces a powerful pulsed or CW electromagnetic field, particularly within the
vicinity of the weapon. The field can be sufficiently strong to create transient voltages of
kiloVolts on exposed electrical conductors, such as conductive tracks on printed circuit
boards and this leads to irreversible damage to a wide range of electrical and electronic
devices, particularly computers and radio or radar receivers [4].
The technology base which may be applied to the design of electromagnetic weapons is
diverse. Electromagnetic energy can be produced with Flux Compression Generators (FCG),
Magneto-Hydrodynamic (MHD) generators and a range of High Power Microwave (HPM)
devices (relativistic klystrons, magnetrons, slow wave devices, reflex triodes, spark gap
devices and vircators). The technology is chosen according to the information of the
anticipated target. Its possible front- and back door coupling mechanisms, size and
distribution, vicinity of other technical devices that cannot be neutralized determine the
frequency range and the electric intensity the weapon produces. In the frequency range below
1 MHz the most popular are Flux Compression Generators. The FCGs work with peak power
levels of the order of TeraWatts [4]. The pulsed power levels achieved in experiments with
HPM sources are 40 GigaWatts over frequencies spanning the decimetric and centimetric
bands [4] and the reality is that today used HPMs are limited to the range of 1 GW for
a microsec pulses and 10 GW for 100 nsec pulses with repetition below 100 Hz [1].
Both the FCGs and the HPMs are nowadays parts of electromagnetic bombs and
electromagnetic missiles. They may be carried at the target and produce one, a few or a train
of high energy pulses. The alternative way is to use the FCGs or the HPMs in the sabotage
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