Russia Increased The Range Of Its EMP Guns To 10km: TASS Report

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Illustrative image of an EMP blast in the movie “The Matrix”. Click to see full-size image

Russia has reportedly increased the range of its EMP (electromagnetic pulse) weapons to up to 10 kilometers, according to unnamed sources of TASS.

Reportedly, tests were carried out and various devices were damaged beyond repair, the weapons also allegedly entirely counter unmanned aerial vehicles.

The range of “guaranteed destruction” of the internal electronics of whatever is targeted by the Russian EMP rifles within the scope of the tests was brought up to 10 kilometers, according to previous reports the range was between 1 and 2 kilometers, meaning that this is a massive upgrade.

This was reported by TASS two sources in the military-industrial complex.

“Tests of electromagnetic weapons have been going on since 2015, the last firing tests of the EMP guns took place in the spring. Currently, the average effective range of electromagnetic guns firing at air targets is 7-8 km, the maximum is approximately 10,” one of the agency’s source said. He clarified that at the initial stage, the effective range was only “a couple of kilometers.”

Another source told TASS that “the destruction of aircraft at a distance of 10 km is provided by “burning” the electronic components of their on-board equipment.”

The source added that the shot of an EMP gun lasts a millisecond and, given the distance to the target, reaches it instantly, since electromagnetic radiation propagates at the speed of light.

The sources also explained that it is necessary to distinguish the defeat caused by the EMP weapon from the suppression of the enemy’s electronics, which is provided by electronic warfare systems (EW).

Most modern electronic warfare systems can suppress electronics at ranges of several hundred kilometers, however, they have incomparably lower power and do not incapacitate devices. EMP guns, in contrast, destroy equipment “at the physical level.”

In EMP guns, electromagnetic radiation of superhigh frequency, also called an electromagnetic “shot”, is used as a damaging factor. The radiation of an electromagnetic gun in a split second heats the affected object to extremely high temperatures.

In particular, it is reportedly planned to equip an unmanned version of a 6th generation fighter jet with such weapons. On a manned aircraft, electromagnetic weapons are dangerous to use, as they can harm their own pilot.

The editor-in-chief of the magazine Arsenal of the Fatherland, Viktor Murakhovsky, in a conversation with the NSN, said that electromagnetic weapons have long been in service in Russia, and noted that this area was actively developed back in the days of the Soviet Union.

“We already have such ammunition, ranging from a shell for a grenade launcher to combat units of anti-aircraft missiles. Now such electromagnetic generators are simply being improved with the use of new materials, increased output of electromagnetic radiation. <…> In conflicts this was not applied. There were tests, after which they were put into service,” the specialist noted.

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