Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Posting-Version: version B 2.10.2 9/18/84; site lanl.ARPA Path: utzoo!watmath!clyde!burl!ulysses!allegra!bellcore!decvax!genrad!teddy!panda!talcott!harvard!seismo!cmcl2!lanl!jlg From: jlg@lanl.ARPA Newsgroups: net.aviation Subject: Re: X-29 vs EMP Message-ID: <19100@lanl.ARPA> Date: Tue, 8-Jan-85 15:58:05 EST Article-I.D.: lanl.19100 Posted: Tue Jan 8 15:58:05 1985 Date-Received: Sat, 12-Jan-85 00:22:02 EST References: <3230@alice.UUCP> Sender: newsreader@lanl.ARPA Organization: Los Alamos National Laboratory Lines: 23 > Well, the X-29 is NOT a "small, self-contained piece of circuitry", > nor is its electronics. The fly-by-wire control system, of necessity, > extends throughout the aircraft. Additional EMP softness derives from > the presence of many radar, communication, and navigation antennae. In terms of EMP, a single aircraft (even a 747) is NOT an extended target. An extended target is something that is (say) half a mile across, made of conducting materials, and using electronics which are sensitive to transients (the bigger the collecting surface, the larger the transients will be so that even pretty stable components can be effected if they are hooked to a power grid or something). Of course, radio and radar equipment have to be especially hardened since their function is to detect and amplify small radio frequency signals. I'm not fully aware of work being done in this area, but I wouldn't be suprised to discover that such devices could be made to survive. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ The greatest derangement of the mind is to believe in something because one wishes it to be so - Louis Pasteur James Giles