Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

U.S. MICROWAVE WEAPON GOING TO IRAQ, EXPERT SAYS
www.american-reporter.com ^ | 4/3/4 | Joe Shea

Posted on 04/04/2004 8:22:55 AM PDT by teldon30

BRADENTON, Fla., April 1, 2004 -- The United States has decided to deploy a $40-million, futuristic non-lethal microwave weapons system that can burn but not blind crowds and combatants at several hundred yards, according to official notice given to retired U.S. Army Col. John Alexander, a consultant to U.S. military forces who is credited with developing the modern concept of non-lethal defense, The American Reporter has learned.

Asked on "Joe Shea at Noon" on WWPR-AM 1490 in Bradenton, Fla., what non-lethal weapons might be in the hands of armies in the future, Col. Alexander unexpectedly revealed new information about one of the nation's most secret and mysterious weapons system and said a decision has been reached to deploy it to Iraq.

"There are some big systems that are coming along," he said. "The 'Active Denial' system being built by the military, this is a microwave system that can project a beam for hundreds of meters and, in fact, I just learned last week that they're going to actually deploy this to Iraq. Now if you want a system that can keep people at bay at a significant distance, that will be the system.

Mounted on a Jeep, the Active Denial microwave weapon can sweep across a rampaging mob and force its members to flee by heating their skin. The effect is similar to touching a hot light bulb, the Air Force says, but will not leave burns or scars or damage eyes. It was tested on human volunteers. Graphic: U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory

"This is a beam that's put out and basically it inflicts pain. I have been zapped by the prototype, and it is extremely effective. It hits the outer layers of the skin and any minor [contact] - anything that's exposed - will cause you to cease and desist immediately."

However, Col. Alexander continued, "The eyes are perfectly safe. There have been substantial studies done. The microwaves themselves do not penetrate the skin or the cornea. So what they do is they penetrate just far enough to hit the pain receptors. So unlike some of the articles when this first came out, you can't just turn it up and cook people, for instance. The microwaves themselves do not penetrate."

Asked if it is the kind of weapon that could be deployed against the raging mob that assassinated four U.S. security contractors in Fallujah yesterday, Col. Alexander responded, "Yes."

"It is not ready for full fielding yet, but just within the past couple days I saw a notice that they are going to send it, and my guess, it'll be used for flank defense of what we know as the Green Zone." The Green Zone is the area surrounding U.S. forces headquarters in Baghdad where there have been many car bomb and rocket attacks as well as mob activity in recent months. "The exact range I'm not at liberty to discuss, but it is several hundred meters," he said. "The Active Denial System microwave operates at 93 Gigahertz and is very effective," he said.

Col. Alexander was asked to appear on "Joe Shea at Noon," hosted by this reporter, to talk about ways U.S. forces could exert more control over raging mobs such as those seen celebrating the gruesome murders in Fallujah, a city of 500,000 north of Iraq in the so-called Sunni Triangle where some are still loyal to the former Saddam Hussein regime. He has recently been in Afghanistan as a consultant to U.S. forces there and has written a book, "Winning The War," available from Amazon.com and published by St. Martin's Press.

He is the former head of the Los Alamos National Laboratory program on non-lethal weapons and served as the U.S. representative on four international studies conducted by NATO, and has chaired most of the major conferences on non-lethal weapons over the past decade. He retired after 34 years in the U.S. Army, where he served mostly in Special Operations and Intelligence capacities. Information about the nature and scope of the Active Denial Technology program is available on several U.S. Air Force Websites. The Air Force Research Laboratory lauded the program last year, saying "One of the attractive features of ADT is that the probability of hit is 100% since ballistics effects are irrelevant." The program has also faced controversy, with some sceintists charging that it could blind innocent persons. The Air Force has said the microwave energy goes no deeper than 1/64th of an inch, not penetrating deeply enough to cause permanent harm.

"Active Denial Technology is a breakthrough non-lethal technology that uses millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary from relatively long range. It is expected to save countless lives by providing a way to stop individuals without causing injury, before a deadly confrontation develops," an Air Force press release said last year. "The energy beam travels at the speed of light. As long as electricity is available, a continuous or pulsed beam of energy can be projected. Operators can direct this beam toward individual targets, sweep it across many targets, dwell it to suppress snipers, or create an energy barrier. The range of ADT considerably exceeds the range of conventional non-lethal technologies and is meant to outrange small arms fire. Possible applications of ADT are airborne, maritime, fixed site, or man-portable. Researchers are studying all applications for their operational benefits and technical feasibility," the Air Force Research Laboratory said in March 2001, when the weapon was first tested on human volunteers and animals.

Underlying the microwave beam is a powerful magnetron developed by Communications & Power Industries (CPI), which was bought out in 2003 by a private equity capital venture firm, Cypress Group, Inc.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: iraq; miltech; muslims; nonlethalweapons
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 last
To: solitas
93 Ghz has about a 3.2mm wavelength - foil or even copper windowscreen

I wonder if a bunch of people with metallic-foil shields would reflect a significant amount of radiation right back at the operators (which is another reason why I suggested using a Bradley instead of a Hummer mounting

61 posted on 04/04/2004 12:47:50 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor (That which does not kill me had better be able to run away damn fast.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 56 | View Replies]

To: teldon30
I was wondering when we were going to deploy it.

Thank God.

I feel for the first nitwit Iraqi that gets warmed up.
62 posted on 04/04/2004 1:12:28 PM PDT by VaBthang4 (-He who watches over Israel neither slumbers nor sleeps-)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: SauronOfMordor
I wonder if a bunch of people with metallic-foil shields would reflect a significant amount of radiation right back at the operators (which is another reason why I suggested using a Bradley instead of a Hummer mounting.

Well, a focused reflection requires a reflector with a figure better than 1/4 wave and you'd need to optimize for a fixed distance...

My 'countermeasure of choice' would be more like a transmitter up in the 28Thz (10.6µm) region. :)

63 posted on 04/04/2004 7:50:23 PM PDT by solitas (sometimes I lay awake at night looking up at the stars wondering where the heck did the ceiling go?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 61 | View Replies]

To: teldon30
i read last year somewhere that we also have a
weapon that shoots a vibritory wave at mobs and actually
causes total loss of control of the bowels.
now does that conjure up an interesting
picture or what, thus giving new meaning to

shhhhi'iiiite
64 posted on 04/05/2004 4:27:55 AM PDT by 537cant be wrong (the lib turneraitor)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: solitas
Well, a focused reflection requires a reflector with a figure better than 1/4 wave and you'd need to optimize for a fixed distance...

The shields could be plain, straight cardboard rectangles covered in foil -- but if a whole BUNCH of them (like a mob's worth) were at 90 degree angles to beam incidence, then you would have a significant amount of radiation being reflected back, IMHO

65 posted on 04/05/2004 4:42:32 AM PDT by SauronOfMordor (That which does not kill me had better be able to run away damn fast.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 63 | View Replies]

To: cripplecreek
"Do Fallujahns plump when you cook em?"
roflmao..........thanks you have made my day.
66 posted on 04/05/2004 4:43:00 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 9 | View Replies]

To: Pukin Dog
Gee, I would hate to be wearing high-explosives and a detonator when a high-powered microwave beam hit me.

That might ruin my whole day.

Have you read Target Lock by James Cobb?

67 posted on 04/05/2004 4:46:44 AM PDT by Poohbah ("Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?" -- Maj. Vic Deakins, USAF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: 537cant be wrong
i read last year somewhere that we also have a
weapon that shoots a vibritory wave at mobs and actually
causes total loss of control of the bowels.
now does that conjure up an interesting
picture or what, thus giving new meaning to

shhhhi'iiiite

=====
Rotflmao..........proof that Freepers have more fun,
thank you all!!!!!!
68 posted on 04/05/2004 4:51:19 AM PDT by stocksthatgoup
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 64 | View Replies]

To: Mad_Tom_Rackham

This is my idea of extra-crispy. Call me old-fashioned. :)
69 posted on 04/05/2004 5:06:24 AM PDT by Heatseeker
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 57 | View Replies]

To: InterceptPoint
I'm sure they won't have the knob turned up all the way to "Pot Roast". Shouldn't we test it first, like on the IRS (to save embarrassment). Since we're talking appliances, a really big potato masher might be an effective deterrent too.
70 posted on 04/05/2004 7:52:33 AM PDT by freepy smurf (Brought to you by The Frog Council. 'Frog: the other green meat.')
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 28 | View Replies]

To: xzins
one of the nation's most secret and mysterious weapons system and said a decision has been reached to deploy it to Iraq

Fall - u - ja

71 posted on 04/05/2004 7:57:30 AM PDT by TrueBeliever9 (The Kingdom of Heaven is taken by force - prayer)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Pukin Dog
Gee, I would hate to be wearing high-explosives and a detonator when a high-powered microwave beam hit me.

At last I can use the phrase "beneficial side effect"!

OTOH, you just know the US will be blamed for any civilian deaths resulting from just such a detonation.

72 posted on 04/05/2004 8:02:49 AM PDT by AngryJawa (Thank You Troops!)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 20 | View Replies]

To: Poohbah
Have you read Target Lock by James Cobb?

No, never heard of it. Is there a correlation in that book with what I suggested? If its good, I'll buy it.

73 posted on 04/05/2004 8:07:05 AM PDT by Pukin Dog (Sans Reproache)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 67 | View Replies]

To: Pukin Dog
No, never heard of it. Is there a correlation in that book with what I suggested? If its good, I'll buy it.

Yup. Pretty good story--if you suspend your disbelief a few notches.

74 posted on 04/05/2004 8:58:55 AM PDT by Poohbah ("Would you mind not shooting at the thermonuclear weapons?" -- Maj. Vic Deakins, USAF)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 73 | View Replies]

To: SauronOfMordor
Ah, yes, BUT: remember the inverse-square law. :)
75 posted on 04/05/2004 3:40:06 PM PDT by solitas (sometimes I lay awake at night looking up at the stars wondering where the heck did the ceiling go?)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 65 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-6061-75 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson