Get Ready for Directed Energy Weapons

Despite the US military's considerable prowess in killing people and blowing things up, the post-cold war era has found it and other NATO allies often engaged in activities that are typically more appropriate for police officers. "Peacekeeping" missions in places like Haiti, Somalia, Serbia, and now Iraq have soldiers patrolling the streets, trying to maintain some semblance of order and often keeping people from killing each other. It's a far cry from the more distinct military objectives that characterized earlier conflicts like the Second World War, and the military has now decided that weapons designed with those objectives in mind may not be suitable for the newer tasks. So they've designed, and are getting ready to deploy something new: a non-lethal ray gun.

According to documents obtained for Wired News under federal sunshine laws, the Air Force's Active Denial System, or ADS, has been certified safe after lengthy tests by military scientists in the lab and in war games.

The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves—94 GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm wavelength) in a standard microwave oven.

The longer waves are thought to limit the effects of the radiation. If used properly, ADS will produce no lasting adverse affects, the military argues.

Documents acquired for Wired News using the Freedom of Information Act claim that most of the radiation (83 percent) is instantly absorbed by the top layer of the skin, heating it rapidly.

The beam produces what experimenters call the "Goodbye effect," or "prompt and highly motivated escape behavior." In human tests, most subjects reached their pain threshold within 3 seconds, and none of the subjects could endure more than 5 seconds.

"It will repel you," one test subject said. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it—reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again."

But while subjects may feel like they have sustained serious burns, the documents claim effects are not long-lasting. At most, "some volunteers who tolerate the heat may experience prolonged redness or even small blisters," the Air Force experiments concluded.
The cat has been out of the bag on Active Denial Systems for some time now, and considerable information is available on the technology, though there are still some specifics that the government is keeping classified. That the Air Force has deemed it "safe" for use, however, is a new revelation, and suggests that we may actually be seeing these sooner rather than later.

From a political perspective an effective, non-lethal crowd control device such as the ADS could be a serious boon for troops on assignment in dangerous areas as a replacement for guns. It's not likely to endear people in those areas to the troops very much, particularly if it gets used often, but a reduction in civilian casualties resulting from peacekeeping missions will go a long way towards minimizing long term anti-Western sentiments.

Of course, the caveat to all this is that the technology really is non-lethal, that is has no harmful side effects (which the Air Force claims, but taking military researchers at their word that new technologies are safe hasn't been a good bet for a while) and that it will be used properly. Rubber and plastic bullets were supposed to be the panacea for crowd control when they were first invented, but unfortunately at close range or when misused they are still very dangerous.

Like it or not, however, it's unlikely that the considerable amount of time and money that has been invested in this project already is going to be tossed aside until the ADS has at least seen some field usage. So one way or another, ray-gun-toting troops or police are coming your way.

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