The US military has given the first public display of what it says is a revolutionary heat-ray weapon to repel enemies or disperse hostile crowds.

The weapon - called the Active Denial System - projects an invisible high energy beam that produces a sudden burning feeling, but is harmless.

Military officials believe the gun could be used as a non-lethal way of making enemies surrender their weapons.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/6297149.stm

The beam has a reach of up to 500 metres (550 yards), much further than existing non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets.

It can penetrate clothes, suddenly heating up the skin of anyone in its path to 50C.

But it penetrates the skin only to a tiny depth - enough to cause discomfort but no lasting harm.

A Reuters journalist who volunteered to be shot with the beam described the sensation as similar to a blast from a very hot oven - too painful to bear without diving for cover.

I remember talking to a person on another board who claimed to be on the testing team of one of those weapons in Iraq. That was months ago. Nice that it was finally revealed to the public.

Got to say that I like the idea of these weapons. It shows me at least that the USA is not some cold evil super power that some media would have us believe.

It wants to keep peace and weapons like these will help [img]graemlins/thumbsup.gif[/img]

Finally revealed to the public? Hasn't everyone known about this thing for about a year now? There have been dozens of articles about it.

"High-energy beam" is also just something to make it sound more sci-fi than it really is. If I remember right, it's basically a giant microwave ray, it heats the water in the skin.

Now the silly thing is that it looks like one well-thrown rock is going to put it out of commission. That big plate is like a giant target.

first I have heard of it :shrug:

<font color=skyblue>This is the first I have heard of it, so thanks wellard! I am glad to see that this is intended as a non-lethal option. I want to see it used on some unruly crowd! Maybe they'll come up with a hand-held version for police to carry instead of those tasers/stun guns. </font>

I think they'd be a worse choice for cops than the stun guns, these are just pain, the tazers actually knock out your muscles for a bit, preventing you from moving. Imagine someone hopped up on [Some drug] enough to ignore pain, or someone who's just a bloody nutter, they'll ignore the pain and just brain the poor cop anyway.

Additionally, I imagine you need at least a few seconds of exposure before the pain makes you really NEED to get out of there, a cop standing right next to some dude with a knife or just a few feet away might not have the luxury of those few seconds, while crowd control situations generally at least give the officers present some distance between themselves and the mob. I'd like to see a mob with broken bottles and cobblestones sneak up on a small army of policemen/soldiers.

I'm just waiting for the next anti-terrorist game to start voicing the commands. ;)

"Smoke them? Shoot them? Blind them?"
"Nah. Cook them."
"One extra large serving of microwaved tangos coming up."

Cheers. ;)

Just as long as we get the hit models from Soldier of Fortune. I want to boil some terrorist's nads.

Nope! It's a HOT evil superpower! RUSSIA is the cold evil super power. This weapon is twenty years or so late, but it's nice to know that we have it just in case.