The U.S. military hesitates to deploy pain beam weapons in the field, but there appears to be an interest from commercial entities in these
nonlethal systems; Raytheon says one of its Active denial Systems has been bought by a commercial organization
HS NewsWire
The U.S. military is not about to deploy its pain ray to the battlefield anytime soon ("U.S. Military Interested in Airborne Non-lethal System,"
23 July 2009 HSNW), but commercial entities may have fewer inhibitions. David Hambling writes that it is not clear who bought the system, but the sale
is mentioned in a presentation by Raytheon, which built the microwave weapon for the Defense Department.
The Active Denial System works by heating the outer surface of the target's skin using millimeter waves -- short wavelength microwaves. The
effect is painful, but generally harmless, and forces the target to get out of the beam. Recently, it's been proposed as a possible defense against
pirates (6 November 2008 HSNW); last month, Raytheon gave a presentation on Active Denial at a NATO workshop on anti-pirate equipment and
technologies. This presentation mentions an "Impending Direct Commercial Sale" of a commercial version of the Active Denial system known as Silent
Guardian. Hambling writes that this is Active Denial in a box, a 10,000-pound containerized system that can be mounted on a ship, a truck, or a fixed
installation. It has an effective range of about 250 meters. The beam has a power of around 30 kilowatts. The anti-pirate presentation shows how a
set-up with two antennas could achieve almost 360-degree coverage for a small container ship.
In the longer run, Raytheon believe that Active Denial might have all sorts of applications in law enforcement, prisons, and protecting
installations -- not to mention chasing geese away from airports. One day a domestic version might even repel burglars.
Leave it corporate fatcats to be the first to adopt sunny, rainbow-making technologies. Sounds like a good use to avoid pirates and the like, but when
I think of corporate interests, I think of Bopal.
Profit is always a bigger motivator than the good of the people.
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