Lots of neat new non-lethal weapons are being tested, including an invisible beam that tricks you into thinking you're on fire. I read about ten years ago they were developing a type of silly-string to halt people, but I don't know how that turned out.
Test subjects can't see the invisible beam from the Pentagon's new, Star Trek-like weapon, but no one has withstood the pain it produces for more than three seconds.
People who volunteered to stand in front of the directed energy beam say they felt as if they were on fire. When they stepped aside, the pain disappeared instantly.
The long-range column of millimeter-wave energy is known as the "Active Denial System" for its ability to prevent an aggressor from advancing. Senior military officials, who plan to deliver the device for troop evaluation this fall, say years of testing has produced no sign it will lead to health effects beyond perhaps causing skin to temporarily redden.
No long-term health effects? Isn't that what they said about 50s A-bomb tests?
Posted by: Seppo at June 9, 2004 08:46 AM