Posted on 03/31/2004 4:38:30 AM PST by billorites
US troops are to be armed with a stun gun that uses a baby's high-pitched scream to bring the enemy to its knees.
The gun, which will be issued to marines in Iraq this month, fires "sonic bullets" that can be targeted like a torch beam.
Anyone hit with a full blast would suffer excruciating pain, permanent deafness and some form of cellular damage. A prolonged blast could kill.
The "Secret Scream" gun as it is called, could revolutionise the way US troops deal with snipers, suicide bombers and riots in the turmoil of post-war Iraq.
The actual sound used is a recording of a baby's scream played backwards.
"For most people, even if they plug their ears, it will produce the equivalent of an instant migraine," said Woody Norris, chairman of American Technology Corporation, the Californian company that has produced the weapon.
"It will knock some people to their knees."
Near human pain threshold
While the sound gun will normally be fired at just 110 decibels - a level that causes the human skull to vibrate - it can travel as far as 300 yards at 145 decibels.
The human threshold of pain is usually between 120 and 130 decibels.
Pentagon sources said it would be used in Iraq as an alternative to bullets to break up riots or protests, to stop suspects approaching check points and force snipers from buildings or caves.
The manufacturer tested the gun on volunteers last month.
No one could stand a 110 decibel blast for more than a few seconds.
Previous attempts to use acoustic weapons have failed because the sound travelled in every direction, affecting the operator as well as the enemy.
Individuals can be targeted
But the Secret Scream's ultrasound wave allows the operator to target one or two key individuals in a crowd.
"Tear gas lingers long after you've fired the canisters. This, you switch it off and it's gone," Mr Norris said.
The weapon consists of two parts, a megaphone the size of a commercial satellite dish mounted on an armoured vehicle, and a computerised operating system that aims and controls the sound waves.
There is a smaller version that can be held in the hand, similar to the soundwave gun used by Tom Cruise in the movie Minority Report.
The Secret Scream sends out two ultrasonic waves at different frequencies.
Each set of waves is too high to hear, but they generate audible sound when they overlap. The effect is called "acoustical heterodyning".
Secret Pentagon research
A secret division in the Pentagon has been financing research on futuristic weapons for more than 15 years.
This is the first to go into operation. Retired US marine Colonel Peter Dotto, a weapons consultant, said the gun would be "terrific for repelling suicide bombers and for rousting terrorists from their hideouts".
"Because the sound ricochets in tight, enclosed areas, it would make it very uncomfortable for Al Qaeda terrorists to stay in caves," he said.
"They would have to come out, and they probably would come out with their hands over their ears."
Brings a whole new meaning to the phrase "lock and load."
The next version will have someone's mother-in-law nagging about something, only speeded up and amplified.
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