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Using Vomit as a Weapon
Strategy Page ^ | January 23, 2006

Posted on 01/26/2006 12:16:01 PM PST by billorites

Over the past few years, products began to appear, that were capable of detecting divers approaching ships or waterside facilities. Now there are underwater weapons that can disable the swimmers.

One of the more recent of the detection systems is the Cerberus360 swimmer detection system. This is a (large) refrigerator size device that is lowered to the ocean floor in the middle of the area you want to guard. Cerberus360 uses sonar to detect anything, large enough to be a threat, up to 800 meters out. Actually, during tests, it was able to detect an approaching underwater scuba swimmer at 900 meters. Cerberus360 works well in shallow water, and can be tweaked by the operator, once emplaced, to be even more accurate.

Al Qaeda groups are know to have bought scuba gear and trained for attacks like this, but none have been attempted yet. But last year, Raytheon Corporation got a patent for a sonar type device that can disable divers as well. The Raytheon "swimmer denial" uses sound waves that are tuned to cause severe gastric distress in humans. Makes you heave into your scuba mask. This makes further underwater operations difficult, if not impossible. However, Raytheon has not announced any timetable for the delivery of these systems. There may not be a large enough market to justify it. For all the talk about scuba equipped terrorists, there have been very few cases of this sort of thing actually happening. Most have been off Israel, where the Israelis have been able to deal with the problem without using an acoustic swimmer denial system.


TOPICS: News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: raytheon
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To: Calpernia
I wonder if that is why we had all those mysterious dolphin deaths.

Mysterious dolphin barfing, maybe.

21 posted on 01/26/2006 12:26:27 PM PST by SlowBoat407 (The best stuff happens just before the thread snaps.)
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To: SlowBoat407
Would that qualify her as a heave ho?

More like a HEEEEEAAAAAAAVVVVVEEEEEE ho'.

22 posted on 01/26/2006 12:27:21 PM PST by dirtboy (My new years resolution is to quit using taglines...)
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To: dirtboy

If I put that picture on the door of my frig, I might be able to loose that extra weight I put on during Christmas.


23 posted on 01/26/2006 12:28:32 PM PST by 6SJ7
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To: billorites



I think my High School lunch room was a secret beta test site for a device like this.


24 posted on 01/26/2006 12:29:10 PM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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To: billorites
Great invention.

Can we get one of these for the Senate?

Kerry, Hitlery, et al, ad nauseum will soon be voting on Alito.

25 posted on 01/26/2006 12:30:14 PM PST by Responsibility2nd
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To: dirtboy; agooga


I had to do it.
26 posted on 01/26/2006 12:31:54 PM PST by PetroniusMaximus
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To: dirtboy

Dang it, dirt, you just curdled the milk on my buddy's desk.


27 posted on 01/26/2006 12:31:56 PM PST by Billthedrill
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

I remember seeing a show a few years ago about "alternative weapons" for riot control. There was one being tested which would blast low level sound waves into a crowd which would make them spew AND crap their pants. I'm sure the rioters, in turn, would sue the police for public humiliation if this was ever used.


28 posted on 01/26/2006 12:32:15 PM PST by Muzzle_em ("Get busy LIVING or get busy dying")
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Well, I grant the seeming effectiveness of this acoustic system, but one can't deny the panache of Naval attack mammals:

http://www.spawar.navy.mil/sandiego/technology/mammals/force_protection.html


29 posted on 01/26/2006 12:32:40 PM PST by Gefreiter ("Are you drinking 1% because you think you're fat?")
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To: billorites

My cats use vomit as a weapon against me all the time...


30 posted on 01/26/2006 12:33:16 PM PST by devane617 (An Alley-Cat mind is a terrible thing to waste)
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To: Riley
A diver would HAVE to surface, where the rapscallion is easily dispatched.

I'm not sure that's true. I've thrown up at 110 feet without any real consequence. And, BTW, I wasn't throwing up into my mask because it covered only my nose and eyes, not my mouth. I even felt better afterward, and, gross as it was, the fish around me didn't miss the opportunity for a meal either.

31 posted on 01/26/2006 12:34:45 PM PST by PUGACHEV
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To: billorites

Sorry in advance.........
http://media.putfile.com/familyguypuke65


32 posted on 01/26/2006 12:36:37 PM PST by moehoward
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To: E. Pluribus Unum

Thank God, Raytheon survived the Democrat attacks of the 70s and 80s. Halliburton is the new Raytheon.


33 posted on 01/26/2006 12:36:59 PM PST by Deb (Beat him, strip him and bring him to my tent!)
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To: Deb

Deb, I like your tag line...are you a perv like me...


34 posted on 01/26/2006 12:38:28 PM PST by devane617 (An Alley-Cat mind is a terrible thing to waste)
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To: dirtboy

Helen Thomas: The face that sank a thousand ships.


35 posted on 01/26/2006 12:39:10 PM PST by BadAndy (The DemocRATs are the enemy's most effective weapon.)
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To: PUGACHEV

Maybe it's different for different people then. I absolutely rely on getting a gasp of breath between, uh, 'periods of distress'. Perhaps it has to do with the intensity of the event.

I am always fire-engine red for a few days afterwards- with a face full of burst capillaries.


36 posted on 01/26/2006 12:39:25 PM PST by Riley ("What color is the boathouse at Hereford?")
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To: billorites
Now there are underwater weapons that can disable the swimmers.

Hand grenade. Works well, and is fairly inexpensive.

37 posted on 01/26/2006 12:45:44 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Riley
Hand grenades would also be an acoustic swimmer denial system, just not quite as loud as the depth charges.

Still, the Raytheon system might have it's uses. It might be cheaper after the initial cost. You could leave it on 24/7. Blue on blue wouldn't be nearly as serious if someone fell over the side or the deck watch not getting the word about divers working below.

38 posted on 01/26/2006 12:59:53 PM PST by magslinger
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To: magslinger

True. Rolling depth charges when in port would damage hulls though. There's a reason that Destroyers are hauling ass when they drop a pattern. Hand grenades going off in the water would be *brutal* on the eardrums and possibly also the sinuses.


39 posted on 01/26/2006 1:05:06 PM PST by Riley ("What color is the boathouse at Hereford?")
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To: billorites

Mythbusters pretty much busted the myth of a sound that could make you crap your pants. But it seems that the same test they did would have also disproved this theory, because their test subjects didn't get sick either.

But maybe they didn't ask Rather for the secret frequency.


40 posted on 01/26/2006 1:18:16 PM PST by CharlesWayneCT
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