XB-70 valkyrie vs B-1B lancer

[Zipper730]

Wait, I thought the sparkplugs and magnetos would be fried by an EMP?

 

[GrauGeist]

Wait, I thought the sparkplugs and magnetos would be fried by an EMP?

Negative.

There are no semiconductors or processors to be killed.

An ignition coil is nothing more than a massive coil of copper wire (hence it's name) and current flowing through the coil builds up a massive charge that's interrupted when the distributor's contact points open, the charge at that moment, is directed by the roter in the distributor cap making contact with the intended spark plug wire. The result is that particular spark plug firing.

There is no magnetic field to be interrupted in that system

A modern alternator *may* be affected, depending on the type of diodes used and if the vehicle's voltage regulator has been replaced with a modern solid state type, that too would be affected.

My '62 Nova has the old Delcotron alternator and an airgap regulator, which would be unaffected.

My car's Kenwood stereo, on the otherhand, would be toast and that would really make me angry...