The Nation : Navy Begins Electromagnetic Pulse Tests

The Navy began zapping huge bursts of electricity across the Atlantic from a barge off North Carolina in the first stage of tests designed to see how ships can survive the electronic aftermath of nuclear explosions. The Empress II--Electromagnetic Pulse Radiation Environment Simulator for Ships, Second Generation--experiments are being conducted 15 miles offshore on a barge carrying two huge diesel generators capable of sending 7-million-volt jolts of electromagnetic energy through a tall cage-like antenna. The daylight tests are beginning at low power so technicians can make sure there is no harm to civilian communications or marine life. The electronic bursts, lasting only billionths of a second, are designed to simulate the electromagnetic radiation that would follow the detonation of a nuclear weapon outside the Earth’s atmosphere. The tests are intended to determine the ability of Navy ships, aircraft and weapons to withstand the pulses.