Gizmodo: active denial system

Cops Will Soon Be Zapping Drunks With Lasers Instead of Tasers

matt buchanan — Wed, 24 Dec 2008 17:30:00 EST

The Department of Justice is working on two new weapons descended from the Air Force's "pain beam" Active Denial System—and wants to put them in the hands of your local boys in blue.

One is a backpack-sized portable ADS that uses microwaves to roast your skin, creating what the Pentagon gingerly calls a "repel response"—in other words, OWOWITBURNSOWOWTURNITOFF. They say it causes no permanent damage, but there haven been cases of second-degree burns.

And then you've got the PhaSR, that Starship Troopers-looking laser rifle above. Not only does "dazzle" you with lasers—not the kind that'll make your sight any better—it has a infrared beam attachment to burn your skin too, which is more currently practical than the microwave-based pain beams, though the latter penetrates clothing better. The National Institute for Justice is testing it "in various scenarios, which may include prison situations as well as law enforcement."

Meaning we can look forward to videos like this one, but with a sweet Halo rifle instead of a dinky taser dishing out the pain: [NewScientist]

Fun with Pain Rays, Sound Cannons and Other Non-Lethal Weaponry

Wilson Rothman — Wed, 28 May 2008 11:00:00 EDT

This week's New Yorker (yep, you heard me right) has a cool piece on the development of non-lethal weapons for military and police. You can tell the writer, Alec Wilkinson, had a good time reporting it. The story focuses on Charles Heal, a badass part-time Marine and part-time LA Sheriff's Department officer known in some circles as "Mr. Non-Lethal Weapons." As a product evaluator and consultant, Heal has helped create about 25 different non-lethal weapons, including:

• Throwbot: A small camera on wheels that can enter rooms where a gunman might be hiding
• SkySeer: a UAV with a camera meant for urban police work
• PepperBall: Think paintball, but with pepper powder
• Bola Ball: A bolo that cops would use to trip up assailants (proved a tad hard to master)

The piece covers some sweet demos, like Raytheon's Active Denial System pain ray (which we've mentioned), the TigerLight pepperspray-shooting flashlight, and a blinding laser cannon meant to "visually dissuade" assailants.

At the end, the author and Heal visit to the HQ of one of the most successful non-lethal weapons: MAD, or magnetic acoustic device. It's not new, but it's only now being explored as a device for police forces. It's a sound projector that can shoot audio up to a mile in distance, and when it projected the sound of .50 cal machine-gun fire, the author says it sounded like it came from a gun "the size of a backhoe," and mentioned that all the birds in the vicinity took off in fear.

The link will give you a digest of the piece; I think you'll need to find an actual paper copy to read the full story. (What's up with that, New Yorker?? No love for the internet?) [New Yorker]

AP Reporter Gets Zapped with Military Pain Gun

Louis Ramirez — Mon, 02 Apr 2007 13:13:04 EDT

Nothing makes me chuckle like watching a reporter being shot with a Tazer for the sake of a story. That's what this fearless AP reporter did, except he raised the stakes by choosing to be zapped with the military's pain gun, a gun so strong it makes you feel like your entire body is on fire.

Maybe I'm just a little warped, but I was hoping for a bigger reaction from our pain-loving scribe. Props to the reporter for having the cojones to do it though, 'cause I know I sure wouldn't have volunteered. – Louis Ramirez

Pain Ray Fries Reporter [The Danger Room]

Nonlethal Gun Makes You Wish You Were Shot with BFG

Louis Ramirez — Tue, 05 Dec 2006 11:04:22 EST

It took 10 years and a $40 million budget to make, but the Air Force has unveiled a new weapon it calls the Active Denial System. It's a nonlethal weapon that has been certified for use in Iraq as a means of crowd control. The ADS shoots a beam of high intensity millimeter waves, which in plain English means if you get in the beam's way, it'll feel like you're being dipped in lava. In fact, the pain is so intense, that the longest any human test subject could withstand the beam was 5 seconds, and a very small number of them walked away with redness and blisters from the beam's intense heat. (I'm sure they'll also develop tails and super powers from the beam's side effects as well). So we're looking at a gun that makes tasers look like water pistols. I think I'd rather be shot for reals. – Louis Ramirez

Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon [via Wired News]