Scripps Howard News Service September 22, 2004
'Packing heat' could take on new meaning in Iraq
By Lisa Hoffman
A sheriff packing an invisible ray that travels at the speed of light may be heading for Baghdad, but he means no harm.
The Pentagon is in the final stages of evaluating whether a new non-lethal weapon, which delivers a beam of energy that benignly burns, might be useful to U.S. forces in Iraq who want to control a crowd or stop an individual without inflicting injury.
If it is deployed to Iraq, the military's $51 million "Active Denial System," which looks like a satellite TV dish, would be mounted on an armored Humvee and dubbed, collectively, a "Sheriff."
Those who have been test-zapped say it causes a sensation similar to touching a hot light bulb, a burning feeling that stops instantly when the beam is shut off or the subject moves out of its way. It leaves neither a burn nor any residual pain.
If it joins the coalition arsenal in Iraq, this revolutionary directed-energy system "will enable U.S. forces to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary without applying lethal force," the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico says in a fact sheet on the device it developed.
"This capability is expected to save countless lives by providing a means to stop individuals without causing injury, before a deadly confrontation develops."
Some human-rights groups and the International Committee of the Red Cross have been wary of the weapon, which they worry could accidentally blind someone, cause undetected side effects or be used as a torture device. They also are concerned that there have been no tests on children or the elderly, who could be zapped collaterally.
Proponents note that, in 6,500 test applications, just one person was hurt, suffering a coin-sized burn on his back after the device had been incorrectly programmed. They also say that a legal review found that the weapon violates no international treaties or laws of war.
Rich Garcia, spokesman for the Air Force laboratory that developed the technology for the device, said that suggestions it could be used as torture misses the whole point of the system, which was designed in the quest for more humane weapons of war.
It also was conceived to tap into the basic human impulse of recoiling from pain. When zapped by the device, one's immediate reaction is to move away - which is just what the weapon-wielder wants when clearing a crowd or corralling an individual.
It is possible to foil the weapon, according to the GlobalSecurity.org research outfit. Covering the body with thick clothes or carrying a metallic sheet - or even a trash-can lid - could deflect the beam, the group says in an analysis. The beam also loses its punch if it hits a body part covered by calluses.
The device uses a transmitter to send a narrow beam of 95-GHz millimeter waves toward a subject. The energy penetrates less than 1/64th of an inch, heating up the skin's surface and causing a stinging sensation. A 2-second burst brings the spot to 130 degrees F. But the human pain reflex makes people pull away automatically after a second, GlobalSecurity.org wrote. To burn the skin, someone would have to endure the beam for 250 seconds.
Garcia, of the Air Force lab, said no one has been able to tough out the stinging for more than three seconds. He managed to stand two seconds before recoiling when he underwent a test application of the beam.
"It hurt a lot," he said.
© Copyright 2004, Scripps Howard News Service
