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New military tech seems to get quite supprising...
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EVER watched Star Trek and wondered what it must feel like to be hit by a phaser set to "stun"? If you're unlucky enough to be caught up in a riot in the future, you may well find out. Because the latest idea in non-lethal weapons is a laser that can knock you off your feet.
If it works, it could change the way the military and law enforcement authorities deal with civil disturbances. They claim that this laser is more accurate than plastic bullets, more controllable than tear gas and more flexible than either, and it can be fired accurately from up to 2 kilometres away.
It sounds like a triumph of innovation, yet no one wants to talk about it. Its developer, Mission Research of California, will not comment. The Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies is silent on the matter.
A leading scientist in the field says he is "not at liberty" to discuss the topic. And he can't even tell me why. The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) at Pennsylvania State University is the driving force behind the project, yet it took five months to deliver a statement answering my questions. And it could hardly have been less informative.
But the existence of the Pulsed Energy Projectile (PEP), as this weapon is called, is scarcely a secret. In the last financial year, US government budgets show that it received $3,173,000 in research funding.
Maybe no one wants to comment because of the way it works: the PEP will be a tough sell for any public relations team. If it's fired at you, the laser vaporises the first thing it hits. That could be your shirt - or your skin. This creates a plasma that heats the surrounding air so fast that, basically, the air explodes. The resulting shock wave will knock you to the floor.
If it sounds like just another crazy military concept, it's not. The PEP is now in the late stages of development and, judging from JNLWD documents, should hit the streets by 2006.
The current plan is to mount the laser on a truck, plane or helicopter, fire it from a safe distance, and stop rioters, snipers or soldiers without risking harm to military personnel.
In June, USAF Special Operations Command proposed converting a B-2 bomber so that it could perform vertical take-off and carry, among other things, non-lethal lasers to blast people, such as gunmen in crowds, from a couple of kilometres away. This airborne capability is something the US military has been seeking since the ugly scenes in Somalia in 1993.
Information about the PEP is extremely hard to come by. Halfway through researching this article, someone shut down the JNLWD's online library.
All US military websites are undergoing a "detailed security review" at the moment. But some clues come from the accountants' trail and if you look hard enough, you can glean some technical details.
The best source seems to be a report written by Harry Moore of the US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Picatinny, New Jersey.
In 2000, Moore presented the PEP concept to a joint services meeting on small arms. His presentation is still available on the Internet http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/sm...).
By netchicken:
posted on 28-5-2003 New military tech seems to get quite supprising...
<hr>
EVER watched Star Trek and wondered what it must feel like to be hit by a phaser set to "stun"? If you're unlucky enough to be caught up in a riot in the future, you may well find out. Because the latest idea in non-lethal weapons is a laser that can knock you off your feet.
If it works, it could change the way the military and law enforcement authorities deal with civil disturbances. They claim that this laser is more accurate than plastic bullets, more controllable than tear gas and more flexible than either, and it can be fired accurately from up to 2 kilometres away.
It sounds like a triumph of innovation, yet no one wants to talk about it. Its developer, Mission Research of California, will not comment. The Institute for Non-Lethal Defense Technologies is silent on the matter.
A leading scientist in the field says he is "not at liberty" to discuss the topic. And he can't even tell me why. The Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) at Pennsylvania State University is the driving force behind the project, yet it took five months to deliver a statement answering my questions. And it could hardly have been less informative.
But the existence of the Pulsed Energy Projectile (PEP), as this weapon is called, is scarcely a secret. In the last financial year, US government budgets show that it received $3,173,000 in research funding.
Maybe no one wants to comment because of the way it works: the PEP will be a tough sell for any public relations team. If it's fired at you, the laser vaporises the first thing it hits. That could be your shirt - or your skin. This creates a plasma that heats the surrounding air so fast that, basically, the air explodes. The resulting shock wave will knock you to the floor.
If it sounds like just another crazy military concept, it's not. The PEP is now in the late stages of development and, judging from JNLWD documents, should hit the streets by 2006.
The current plan is to mount the laser on a truck, plane or helicopter, fire it from a safe distance, and stop rioters, snipers or soldiers without risking harm to military personnel.
In June, USAF Special Operations Command proposed converting a B-2 bomber so that it could perform vertical take-off and carry, among other things, non-lethal lasers to blast people, such as gunmen in crowds, from a couple of kilometres away. This airborne capability is something the US military has been seeking since the ugly scenes in Somalia in 1993.
Information about the PEP is extremely hard to come by. Halfway through researching this article, someone shut down the JNLWD's online library.
All US military websites are undergoing a "detailed security review" at the moment. But some clues come from the accountants' trail and if you look hard enough, you can glean some technical details.
The best source seems to be a report written by Harry Moore of the US Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Picatinny, New Jersey.
In 2000, Moore presented the PEP concept to a joint services meeting on small arms. His presentation is still available on the Internet http://www.dtic.mil/ndia/sm...).
