Posted on 01/24/2007 4:55:22 PM PST by Rb ver. 2.0
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia (Reuters) - The U.S. Defense Department on Wednesday unveiled what it called a revolutionary heat-beaming weapon that could be used to control mobs or repel foes in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan.
The so-called Active Denial System causes an intense burning sensation causing people to run for cover, but no lasting harm, officials said.
"This is a breakthrough technology that's going to give our forces a capability they don't now have," Theodore Barna, an assistant deputy undersecretary of defense for advanced systems and concepts, told Reuters. "We expect the services to add it to their tool kit. And that could happen as early as 2010."
The weapon, mounted on a Humvee, uses a large rectangular dish antenna to direct an invisible beam toward a target. It includes a high-voltage power unit and beam-generating equipment and is effective at more than 500 meters.
Existing counter-personnel systems designed not to kill -- including bean bag munitions and rubber bullets -- work at little more than "rock-throwing distances," said Marine Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the Pentagon's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.
In increasingly complex military operations, the technology provided a much-needed alternative to just going from "shouting to shooting," said Hymes, who is responsible for the weapon's five-year, $60 million advanced development.
Variations of the system could help in peacetime and wartime missions, including crowd control and mob dispersal, checkpoint security and port protection, officials said. It could also help in conflicts like Iraq and Afghanistan
Raytheon Co., which has worked to develop the technology, has built a prototype called Silent Guardian, that it hopes to sell in the United States and abroad in what could become a multibillion market.
The weapon was shown off publicly for the first time at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia, where it has been undergoing operational tests by the 820th Security Forces Group, which protects Air Force assets.
The directorate invited reporters to be zapped as part of what its spokeswoman, Marine Maj. Sarah Fullwood, called an effort to "demystify" the technology at issue.
At a distance of several football fields, the sensation from the exposure was like a blast from a very hot oven, too painful to bear without scrambling for cover.
The burning sensation is achieved by high-power energy waves that heat the skin to 130 degrees Fahrenheit. The pain ended as soon as the target jumped from the line of fire.
Documents given out during the demonstration said more than 10,000 people had been exposed to the weapon since testing began more than 12 years ago. They said there had been no injuries requiring medical attention during the five-year advanced development program.
More proof the U.S. is to blame for global warming.
Someone had to say it, right? ;)
"The pain ended as soon as the target jumped from the line of fire."
Wonder what happens if someone falls in the mad dash to get away.
The snow melting possibilities are interesting.
Can you have one shipped to DC for Jan 27th??? The DC chapter could use one.
You can get a 1st degree burn to the skin from 130 degree hot water in about 2 seconds.
But hot water stays in direct contact with the skin, this being light rays would take longer.
It also occurs to me that one would have to be careful of such a weapon that there would be a minimum safe distance at which you could use the weapon or that the intensity or power output would need to be adjustable for the distance to the target.
Too bad that the libs will probably kill the funding for it, now that they are in charge!!
Raytheon going back through its old patents? Sounds like the old wide-area microwave oven!
A regular wire mesh screen, similar to what one has in the door of a microwave oven, ought to absorb the beam and protect the shielded person. just wrap it around the clothes and on one's hat to cover the head, avoiding any contact with the skin.
Not really. Keep in mind that the weapon doesn't actually fire heat, it fires microwave energy that creates a thin layer of heat onto any water bearing object it strikes. If the beam is relatively tight, it could target a person 5 years away, and then 500 yards away, with little difference in the effective impact on the victim.
The cool thing about this is the amplitude of the signal...it only penetrates a millimeter or so into your skin AND it's pulsed. A sustained hit doesn't penetrate enough to do any damage, and the pulse is short enough that it doesn't heat your skin up all that much. Just enough to get your nerve endings to fire. You will FEEL like you're on fire, without ever actually heating up.
Saw a preview of this on TV a while back. The military has been working on it for quite a few years now.
Scene 115: INT. SPADE'S LIVING ROOM
GUTMAN: Well, sir, there are other means of persuasion besides killing or threatening to kill.
SPADE: Sure. But they aren't much good unless the threat of death is behind them. See what I mean? If you start anything I'll make it a matter of you having to kill me or call it off.
GUTMAN: (chuckles) That's and attitude, sir, that calls for the most delicate judgement on both sides...
Non-leathal means only work well against those insufficiently commited to their cause. Hippies, and such like. Pirates and revolutionaries with nothing to lose might be another matter.
Well, it's high time to return to chain mail in clothing fashion. They say it is VERY durable.
Chain mail would be your worst fashion choice. The "heat ray" (it's really more a "pain ray") is basically a microwave oven turned inside out: it causes pain by microwaving the water in your skin. It works even better on metal. Think of what happens when you put a foil-wrapped potato into a microwave... then imagine it's YOU who are wrapped in metal foil...
The only way to beat this thing would be a) to approach it while inside a Faraday cage or b) to expose yourelf to it deliberately over and over until you develop the psychological ability to ignore the all-over burning sensation.
About time we put the heat to them.
As long as you know from which direction the emitter is firing.
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