Marines Fund Non-Lethal Heat Ray

[unhappycamper]

Marines Fund Non-Lethal Heat Ray

Reporters can be really dumb. There I was in front of Raytheon’s booth at the Association of the US Army’s conference with a little button under my thumb. I hit the button. My lower thoracic area got very hot, very fast. So I waited for the machine to recycle and hit the button again. This time the pain was more intense — I wasn’t screaming or anything — and my skin felt like it was about to catch fire.

I didn’t do this just to make you all chuckle. The idea was to see what the Marines will probably buy from Raytheon with $25 million buried deep in the summer supplemental spending bill. The Marines haven’t signed the contract — yet — but negotiations are well under way for five nonlethal Silent Guardian systems . It looks as if the system will be used in Afghanistan to help protect high value assets as well as bases.

The system beams millimeter wave energy at the speed of light for more than 250 meters and penetrates the top layer of the skin. As soon as you move away from the beam the pain stops, although there is a nagging sensation of pain for few moments afterwards. The antenna covers a full 360 degrees and the beam can be used to sweep across a crowd or to target one person at a time. It’s got safety cutoffs so it doesn’t cause permanent damage, according to John Patterson, a Raytheon spokesman.

The Silent Guardian is one variant of Raytheon’s Active Denial Systems, most of which provide area-wide protections against weapons such as missiles.

Non-lethals have been in development for a very long time. The first big burst of enthusiasm hit in the mid-1990s when the Pentagon created its first non-lethal office. Most of those technologies foundered — such as sticky foam — among concerns that non-lethals might hurt people, which always seemed ironic given that high velocity bullets and bombs are considered legal.


Rest of article at: http://www.defensetech.org/archives/004461.html?wh=wh

[thunder rising]

1. So they are going to microwave the population into submission.

[Lefta Dissenter]

2. coming

to a peace march near you...

:(

[leveymg]

3. Just turn up the wattage a bit, and "non-lethals" turn into the long awaited death rays

[jeepnstein]

4. Marines will use it.

They guard embassies in some places that can get out of hand quickly. This is a good alternative to cutting down a group of protesters with a Ma Deuce and then letting things really spiral down the tubes.

The corporate culture of the Marine Corps is quite different than the other branches. They know full well what they are trained to do and the consequences of ordering a Marine to do something. The job will get done one way or the other. "Resourcefulness" is a good way to describe it. I'm all for giving them plenty of options because they're more likely to adopt the best tool for the job.