[Peace-discuss] Fwd: Featured today in N-G section B

[Jan & Durl Kruse]

> http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070124/NEWS07/ 
> 70124046/0/BLOG03
>
> New ray gun makes targets feel like they're catching fire
>
> January 24, 2007
>
> By ELLIOTT MINOR
>
> ASSOCIATED PRESS
>
>  MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Ga. — The U.S. military calls its new weapon an  
> “active denial system,” but that’s an understatement. It’s a ray gun  
> that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they are about to  
> catch fire.
>
>  Apart from causing that terrifying sensation, the technology is  
> supposed to be harmless — a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop  
> their weapons.
> Military officials say it could save the lives of innocent civilians  
> and service members in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.
>
>  The weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010,  
> but all branches of the military have expressed interest in it,  
> officials said.
>
> During the first media demonstration of the weapon today, airmen fired  
> beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people  
> pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios that U.S.  
> troops might encounter in war zones.
>
> The device’s two-man crew located their targets through powerful  
> lenses and fired beams from more than 500 yards away. That is nearly  
> 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber  
> bullets.
>
> Anyone hit by the beam immediately jumped out of its path because of  
> the sudden blast of heat throughout the body. While the 130-degree  
> heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make the participants  
> think their clothes were about to ignite.
>
> “This is one of the key technologies for the future,” said Marine Col.  
> Kirk Hymes, director of the non-lethal weapons program at Quantico,  
> Va., which helped develop the new weapon. “Non-lethal weapons are  
> important for the escalation of force, especially in the environments  
> our forces are operating in.”
>
> The system uses electromagnetic millimeter waves, which can penetrate  
> only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By  
> comparison, microwaves used in the common kitchen appliance penetrate  
> several inches of flesh.
>
> The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate  
> most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the  
> waves can go through glass.
>
> The weapon could be mounted aboard ships, airplanes and helicopters,  
> and routinely used for security or anti-terrorism operations.
>
> “There should be no collateral damage to this,” said Senior Airman  
> Adam Navin, 22, of Green Bay, Wis., who has served several tours in  
> Iraq.
>
> Navin and two other airmen were role players in today's demonstration.  
> They and 10 reporters who volunteered were shot with the beams. The  
> beams easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.
>
> The system was developed by the military, but the two devices  
> currently being evaluated were built by defense contractor Raytheon.
>
> Airman Blaine Pernell, 22, of suburban New Orleans, said he could have  
> used the system during his four tours in Iraq, where he manned  
> watchtowers around a base near Kirkuk. He said Iraqis constantly  
> pulled up and faked car problems so they could scout out U.S. forces.
>
> “All we could do is watch them,” he said. But if they had the ray gun,  
> troops “could have dispersed them.”

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