Photo via YouTube/Nasht News
Photo via YouTube/Nasht News

A stealth aircraft that can send electromagnetic pulses to knock out power is a reality.

That’s the news in this video posted on CNN. The U.S. Air Force has confirmed an “electromagnetic pulse weapon” called CHAMP that it’s developed with Boeing. CHAMP can target and knock out power with nothing more than a flyby.

“We hit every target we wanted to, we prosecuted every one,” Boeing’s project manager Keith Coleman said in the video. “We made science fiction, science fact.”

In addition to just looking cool, CHAMP’s matte black exterior appears to make it almost undetectable at night, enabling it to fly over areas and pinpoint buildings to knock out power — without damage or casualties.

Photo via YouTube/Nasht News
Photo via YouTube/Nasht News

This article in the Motley Fool lays out more facts behind the Air Force/Boeing project. CHAMP stands for “Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project.”

“CHAMP can fire multiple times, pinpointing and blacking out only essential targets. This would permit, for example, taking down radar defenses in a hostile state, while saving the electrical grid that supports the civilian population,” states the Motley Fool piece. “In a 2012 test flight in Utah, a single CHAMP was reported to have blacked out seven separate targets in succession, in one single mission.”

The Motley Fool reports that the Air Force has contracted Boeing to make five CHAMPs to date.

Watch this Boeing video showing how CHAMP works below:

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