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.Right.
The so-called Active Denial System causes an intense burning sensation causing people to run for cover, but no lasting harm, officials said.
I wrote in "Things to Come," (GUNS AND AMMO magazine, July 2002) about a weapon under development that, per Wired.com, "releases two ultraviolet laser beams... that paralyz[e] the skeletal muscles of people and animals up to 2 kilometers away":
The non-lethality claim is also interesting, it's just not particularly believable. It's supposedly limited to wavelengths that can't damage eyes and internal organs, but are there any doubts that a "black" R&D project devoted to wave transmissions and frequency modulations won't develop a workaround? Assuming they haven't already?And as I also asked in that article about another weapon:
Any bets on whether one of these babies will ever make it to the civilian market?[Via John Schaefer]
"...but if circumstances should at any time oblige the government to form an army of any magnitude that army can never be formidable to the liberties of the people while there is a large body of citizens, little, if at all, inferior to them in discipline and the use of arms, who stand ready to defend their own rights and those of their fellow-citizens....” - Alexander Hamilton, Federalist #29
ReplyDeleteAlmost all of our governments are lying, cowardly control freaks. With little, if any, comprehension of the words Freedom and Liberty. We are, by no means, still the "land of the free"....
n 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.
ReplyDeletesounds like a plan, go from shouting to shooting. ANYONE who tries to microwave me is an enemy. The fact that they stole $60 million+ to make something to do just that is even worse.
Sure they will David. they'll be used in markets, stadiums, schools, and anywhere else people stand up to them.
If "makes it to" = "gets pointed at", then most definitely, YES.
ReplyDeleteAt least these weapons leave me alive for another chance to make them dead!
ReplyDeleteAnd I'll bet they're darned handy when it's time to get a few questions answered!
ReplyDeleteWanna bet that's how they find out what happens if you don't get out of the beam?
And Bloomberge wants one for NY
ReplyDelete