Tuesday, February 20, 2007
Shooting Pain
A quick description of the Active Denial System and its purpose:
If you're worried about terrorism, upset about the war in Iraq, and depressed by global chaos, violence and death, cheer up. The U.S. military just invented a weapon that fires a beam of searing pain. Three weeks ago, it was tested on volunteers at an Air Force base in Georgia. You can watch the video on a military Web site (follow above link). Three colonels get zapped, along with an Associated Press reporter. The beam is invisible, but its effects are vivid. Two dozen airmen scatter. The AP guy shrieks and bolts out of the target zone. He says it felt like heat all over his body, as though his jacket were on fire. The feeling is an illusion. No one is harmed. The beam's energy waves penetrate just 1/64 of an inch into your body, heating your skin like microwaves. They inflame your nerve endings without burning you. This could be the future of warfare: less bloodshed, more pain.
Military technology has always sought a greater precision from a longer range. In the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan, we exploited the increasing accuracy of laser-guided bombs. In the post-9/11 terrorist hunt and the occupation of Iraq, we've sent hundreds of remotely piloted aerial drones to spy and kill. But the lives protected by drones are ours. The pain beam is more ambitious: It can spare civilians and even the enemy. Precision isn't just the ability to kill. Sometimes, it's the ability to disperse and deter without killing.
The Washington Post, February 18, 2007
If you're worried about terrorism, upset about the war in Iraq, and depressed by global chaos, violence and death, cheer up. The U.S. military just invented a weapon that fires a beam of searing pain. Three weeks ago, it was tested on volunteers at an Air Force base in Georgia. You can watch the video on a military Web site (follow above link). Three colonels get zapped, along with an Associated Press reporter. The beam is invisible, but its effects are vivid. Two dozen airmen scatter. The AP guy shrieks and bolts out of the target zone. He says it felt like heat all over his body, as though his jacket were on fire. The feeling is an illusion. No one is harmed. The beam's energy waves penetrate just 1/64 of an inch into your body, heating your skin like microwaves. They inflame your nerve endings without burning you. This could be the future of warfare: less bloodshed, more pain.
Military technology has always sought a greater precision from a longer range. In the Persian Gulf War, Kosovo and Afghanistan, we exploited the increasing accuracy of laser-guided bombs. In the post-9/11 terrorist hunt and the occupation of Iraq, we've sent hundreds of remotely piloted aerial drones to spy and kill. But the lives protected by drones are ours. The pain beam is more ambitious: It can spare civilians and even the enemy. Precision isn't just the ability to kill. Sometimes, it's the ability to disperse and deter without killing.
The Washington Post, February 18, 2007
