The link mentioned that if the detonation had been over the US, the effect itself would have been 6x stronger—quite aside from being closer than 1500 kilometers to places that mattered. And that wasn’t even designed to maximize EMP effects in any way.
Besides that, when someone says ‘the electronics around them’, I think that covers a lot more and more important stuff than one’s cellphone.
The context here was EMP to be deployed against nanobots, not power grids. The source will thus be optimized to produce EMP, and to minimize collateral damage against general infrastructure—perhaps by producing smaller pulses closer to the target rather than enormous pulses further away.
In particular, the ability to affect microelectronics is paramount. The ability to take down the grid is irrelevant.
The link mentioned that if the detonation had been over the US, the effect itself would have been 6x stronger—quite aside from being closer than 1500 kilometers to places that mattered. And that wasn’t even designed to maximize EMP effects in any way.
Besides that, when someone says ‘the electronics around them’, I think that covers a lot more and more important stuff than one’s cellphone.
The context here was EMP to be deployed against nanobots, not power grids. The source will thus be optimized to produce EMP, and to minimize collateral damage against general infrastructure—perhaps by producing smaller pulses closer to the target rather than enormous pulses further away.
In particular, the ability to affect microelectronics is paramount. The ability to take down the grid is irrelevant.