Military allows reporters to be blasted with Pain Ray Active Denial System

[Ian David]

I Was a Pain Ray Guinea Pig
By Sharon Weinberger EmailOctober 25, 2007 | 4:20:59 PM

Today, I broke my cardinal rule of defense reporting: never be a test subject for a supposedly "nonlethal" weapon. I adopted this rule some time back at a trade show, when I saw somebody pick up a dazzling laser from a booth and point it as his own face at close range. Basically, untrained people are prone to do stupid stuff around nonlethal weapons and I'm really fond of my central field of vision, so why take the risk?

But today, the military offered the second opportunity ever for reporters to be blasted by the Active Denial System, a millimeter wave beam weapon designed to heat up the very tippy top layer of skin. Considering that they've blasted the thing some 10,000 plus times, and at several hundred people, I thought, "Oh why not?" The demonstration was held today at Quantico in Virginia, where a couple dozen reporters -- along with military personnel -- volunteered for a demo.

<snip>

In the briefings leading up to the test, Susan LeVine, of the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate, told us that ADS felt like being burned by a hairdryer at the hairdresser (women will understand this one better than men).

Colonel Kirk Hymes, head of the Directorate, described it like the heat on your face when you open the oven to baste a Thanksgiving Turkey (I guess that's a guy thing, because women don't stick their heads in the oven when they baste a turkey).

<snip>

Lesson number two: It's hard to say whether the rain issue (which has always been acknowledged as a factor in the ADS beam) makes any difference in the end. After all, everyone jumped out of the beam within a couple of seconds. And, as the officials at the test noted, in real world operations, we would likely be closer to the beam (we were positioned over 500 meters away from the ADS system).

More:
http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/10/the-active-can-.html



See also:

Military Shows Off New Ray Gun (AP)
Topic started by Eugene on Jan-24-07 04:49 PM (37 replies)
Last modified by kineta on Jan-24-07 08:10 PM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=389&topic_id=30115






Ray gun makes targets feel as if they are on fire
Topic started by onehandle on Jan-24-07 09:29 PM (34 replies)
Last modified by Nihil on Jan-26-07 07:27 AM
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=2702323

[PATRICK]

1. And crowds

can't immediately disperse to flee the closest and most intense pain. And there are likely countermeasures
as simple as tin foil shields and "armour"? And the demonstration doses among the warned and anxious fearful- not the mob enraged- are meant not to alarm the reporters.

I would like to see a full force effective demonstration used against the DC press corps someday when, say, they forget to laugh at a * joke. I too would like to see them come cringing back and demonstrate what control really means.

[Ian David]

5. One of my "See Also" post includes discussion of countermeasures.

My favorite is to use "retroflective material" as a shield.

You see, retroflectors direct nearly 100% of an energy beam not just away... but directly BACK AT THE SOURCE.

[babylonsister]

2. And who are the ultimate targets for this? Let me guess. nt

[knitter4democracy]

3. That's just creepy.

Its only good for crowd control, and that's just messed up.

[eppur_se_muova]

4. I would think the cardinal rule would be ...

never be a test subject for a supposedly "lethal" weapon.