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Riot control ray gun worries scientists
Cnet News ^ | July 20, 2005

Posted on 07/21/2005 5:50:53 PM PDT by Panerai

Scientists are questioning the safety of a Star Wars-style riot control ray gun due to be deployed in Iraq next year.

The Active Denial System weapon, classified as "less lethal" by the Pentagon, fires a 95GHz microwave beam at rioters to cause heating and intolerable pain in less than five seconds.

The discomfort is designed to prompt people caught in the microwave beam to move away from it, thereby allowing riot-control personnel to break up and manage a crowd.

But New Scientist magazine reported Wednesday that during tests carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico, participants playing the part of rioters were told to remove glasses and contact lenses to protect their eyes.

In another test they were also told to remove metal objects such as coins from their clothing to prevent local hot spots from developing on their skin.

"What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever reason to move away from the beam?" asked Neil Davison, coordinator of the nonlethal weapons research project at Britain's Bradford University.

"How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the threshold for permanent damage? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?"

The magazine said a vehicle-mounted version of the weapon named Sheriff was scheduled for service in Iraq in 2006 and that U.S. Marines and police were both working on portable versions.


TOPICS: Technical
KEYWORDS: raygun
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1 posted on 07/21/2005 5:50:54 PM PDT by Panerai
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To: Panerai

They're right. It's too risky. So are rubber bullets, tear gas, and riot batons.

We'd better just stick with JDAMs.


2 posted on 07/21/2005 5:52:56 PM PDT by bolobaby
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To: Panerai

Hey Jihadists, make sure to wear your aluminum foil undies with the shiny side out for maximum protection.


3 posted on 07/21/2005 5:53:18 PM PDT by NavVet (“Benedict Arnold was wounded in battle fighting for America, but no one remembers him for that.”)
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To: Panerai

4 posted on 07/21/2005 5:54:11 PM PDT by isthisnickcool (Get all the incumbents out of politics!)
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To: Panerai
They should name it The Howard Dean.
5 posted on 07/21/2005 5:54:15 PM PDT by jigsaw (Only morons believe the root cause of terrorism is our fight against terrorism.)
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To: Panerai

Yup, Way tpoo risky, Just drop a ....... MOAB


6 posted on 07/21/2005 5:57:04 PM PDT by MJY1288 (Whenever a Liberal is Speaking on the Senate Floor, Al-Jazeera Breaks in and Covers it LIVE)
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To: Panerai

From the people who brought you the microwave oven, a people nuker.


7 posted on 07/21/2005 6:00:23 PM PDT by agitator (...And that no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark)
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To: Panerai
"What happens if someone in a crowd is unable for whatever reason to move away from the beam?"

Tough noogies.

8 posted on 07/21/2005 6:00:55 PM PDT by etcetera
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To: Panerai; eyespysomething
The magazine said a vehicle-mounted version of the weapon named Sheriff was scheduled for service in Iraq in 2006 and that U.S. Marines and police were both working on portable versions.

My sheriff, for one, will be very disappointed to learn that a non-lethal weapon is being nick-named "sheriff."

He thinks rubber bullets are for kids to play with and is proud that he once burned down a house with a tear-gas cannister. The perp who was holed up in the house, he proudly notes, came out and surrendered.

9 posted on 07/21/2005 6:01:15 PM PDT by SittinYonder (America is the Last Beach)
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To: Panerai

Why, are the scientists planning on getting a little rowdy at their next convention?


10 posted on 07/21/2005 6:01:16 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
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To: agitator

That the German Microwave ... it seats 300


11 posted on 07/21/2005 6:02:15 PM PDT by MJY1288 (Whenever a Liberal is Speaking on the Senate Floor, Al-Jazeera Breaks in and Covers it LIVE)
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To: Larry Lucido

HEY ! when I said "nuke 'em"

I meant "NUKE THEM !"


12 posted on 07/21/2005 6:03:33 PM PDT by daku
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To: NavVet
Hey Jihadists, make sure to wear your aluminum foil undies with the shiny side out for maximum protection.

I'm more concerned about a future Dem administration deciding to use it to make the next Freep "move along"

The problem with easily-used less than lethal weapons is that they are more likely to be used in gray-area situations

13 posted on 07/21/2005 6:03:50 PM PDT by SauronOfMordor
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To: Panerai
A nice motivator to NOT riot.

One of these should be standar operating procedure during every G-8, WTO, Republican National Convention, etc.

Feel the burn.

14 posted on 07/21/2005 6:04:45 PM PDT by Trajan88 (www.bullittclub.com)
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To: NavVet

Well, if the bad guys would just wrap themselves in a thin metal mesh (with openings about 1mm or smaller - like what one has in the doors of microwave ovens) on top of regular clothing (or blanket) then one would have to fry them for a long time point-blank to get the desired effect. Say, 10kW beam (probably less), with few degrees divergence. At 100 yds a 3° (probably wider) beam would have diameter 5 yds, ca 19 square yds cross-section [again, real beam would probably be wider]. 500W/sq.yd maximum. So, the mesh would have to be heavy enough to dissipate a few hundred watts. Doable.


15 posted on 07/21/2005 6:10:16 PM PDT by GSlob
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To: Panerai

I wouldn't care if the friggin' ray vaporized those mutts!


16 posted on 07/21/2005 6:11:30 PM PDT by Solamente
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To: bolobaby

You have to wonder about the wisdom of using non-lethal weapons when the result might be to cripple or disfigure. In some parts of the world that will get you a vendetta worse than if you'd just made a clean kill. 'course the rioters make no bones about the fact that their trying to KILL our troops.


17 posted on 07/21/2005 6:12:57 PM PDT by Tallguy
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To: MJY1288

Use one of those and I'll need the big zoom lens on the camera to film at a safe distance.How about loading up a airport fire truck with pepper spray-that should give a nice soaking for the unruly.


18 posted on 07/21/2005 6:13:11 PM PDT by Farmer Dean (Every time a toilet flushes,another liberal gets his brains.)
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To: NavVet

"Hey Jihadists, make sure to wear your aluminum foil undies with the shiny side out for maximum protection."

Please be sure to send the same courtesy notifications Reid, Kennedy and Kerry.

I think Kennedy and Kerry wear THEIR tinfoil undies for perverted purposes, but, hey, who can say for sure?

(I don't think that Reid has any WAY to commit perverted purposes.)


19 posted on 07/21/2005 6:14:41 PM PDT by righttackle44 (The most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine with his rifle and the American people behind him)
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To: bolobaby

"Riot control ray gun worries scientists"

Worries me, too, that we may not use them
on the scientists who are worried.


20 posted on 07/21/2005 6:15:44 PM PDT by righttackle44 (The most dangerous weapon in the world is a Marine with his rifle and the American people behind him)
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