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| Coffee |
 Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 9:07 am Post subject: US Microwave Test (Freaky) |
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Joined: 30 Apr 2005
Posts: 114
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VOLUNTEERS taking part in tests of the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave weapon were banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses due to safety fears. The precautions raise concerns about how safe the Active Denial System (ADS) weapon would be if used in real crowd-control situations.
The ADS fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam, which is supposed to heat skin and to cause pain but no physical damage (New Scientist, 27 October 2001, p 26). Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.
The tests were carried out at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. Two experiments tested pain tolerance levels, while in a third, a "limited military utility assessment", volunteers played the part of rioters or intruders and the ADS was used to drive them away.
The experimenters banned glasses and contact lenses to prevent possible eye damage to the subjects, and in the second and third tests removed any metallic objects such as coins and keys to stop hot spots being created on the skin. They also checked the volunteers' clothes for certain seams, buttons and zips which might also cause hot spots.
The ADS weapon's beam causes pain within 2 to 3 seconds and it becomes intolerable after less than 5 seconds. People's reflex responses to the pain is expected to force them to move out of the beam before their skin can be burnt.
But Neil Davison, co-ordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at the University of Bradford in the UK, says controlling the amount of radiation received may not be that simple. "How do you ensure that the dose doesn't cross the threshold for permanent damage?" he asks. "What happens if someone in a crowd is unable, for whatever reason, to move away from the beam? Does the weapon cut out to prevent overexposure?"
During the experiments, people playing rioters put up their hands when hit and were given a 15-second cooling-down period before being targeted again. One person suffered a burn in a previous test when the beam was accidentally used on the wrong power setting.
“What happens if someone is unable to move away from the beam?”
A vehicle-mounted version of ADS called Sheriff could be in service in Iraq in 2006 according to the Department of Defense, and it is also being evaluated by the US Department of Energy for use in defending nuclear facilities. The US marines and police are both working on portable versions, and the US air force is building a system for controlling riots from the air. |
http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=mg18725095.600
Just how high does that power setting go?
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| invert_nexus |
| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 1:34 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Ph.D.
Joined: 21 Apr 2005
Posts: 858
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Kinda spooky that the armed forces are taking such an active role in crowd control which leads one to think that they may become more policemen than military.
God damn you republicans. |
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| grazzhoppa |
| Posted: Sat Jul 23, 2005 2:03 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 04 May 2005
Posts: 26
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| I am ammused that they will be employing this to Iraq before giving it to law enforcement in the US. They can test it on the Iraqis and work out the bugs there - where civilizian deaths are already common. |
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| Coffee |
| Posted: Wed Jul 27, 2005 11:50 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 30 Apr 2005
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I didn't plan on hearing a political response from you people. Yes, it is odd that the military is conducting research to disperse crowds... but...
It's obviously flawed. In the article it says that the person can't have any metal on them. Such as zippers, coins, cell phones, etc. What about people who have metal in them? Like metal fillings? That'd hurt, if you ask me.
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| Cottontop3000 |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:17 am Post subject: |
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Forum Senior
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 340
Location: West Texas
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Can't we see that this is aimed at us, the people? Riots, "defending nuclear facilities," etc. Pretty soon, at this rate, and before we even realize it, revolution will not even be a possibility, even if we wanted it or needed it. I'm already of the opinion that our "elected" officials here in the good ole U.S. are unaccountable and above the law, to a great degree. We may get a few of them, here and there, but it's the good ole boys in the shadows, behind the scenes, that keep the train rolling.
There are probably many other things like this ADS device being developed that are geared towards "riot" control.
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| wallaby |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:48 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1375
Location: Australia
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| Coffee wrote: |
| That'd hurt, if you ask me. |
isn't that the point in dispersing a crowd.
I'll bet tear Gas hurts as well...and what do you know they use it.
but your right there are flaws in the system that can cause deaths, but me i'd be more worried about the people using the weapon. |
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| (In)Sanity |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:57 am Post subject: |
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Forum Cosmic Wizard
Joined: 19 Oct 2004
Posts: 2154
Location: Phoenix AZ
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Cool, I'll bring the popcorn  |
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| wallaby |
| Posted: Thu Jul 28, 2005 12:58 am Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 03 Jul 2005
Posts: 1375
Location: Australia
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| just keep it out of the way of the tear gas when dispersing the people on the Hunger strike. |
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| TreizeEnder |
| Posted: Sat Dec 23, 2006 10:46 pm Post subject: |
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Joined: 23 Dec 2006
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Location: Deep in thought
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I've been researching this for some time. Lots of strange reports surrounding the use of microwave weapons in Iraq. At first, I dismissed it... I mean, the headline sounded like it came from a B move; "Pentagon testing new beam weapon in Iraq?". Didn't strike me until after my research on microwaves connected to harmonics... scary stuff.
You know, if you stick a match in a microwave and a jar (with vents in the bottom) the hot air from the match makes the air expand and lose density. Boom; the microwaves start a chain reaction and produce glowing plasma in the jar. I tried it myself. Here's a vid of someone:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6732382807079775486&q=microwave+plasma&hl=en
Here's a pic
Anyway, imagine a microwave laser (MASER, I know). A maser would be bad enough on people as it pinpoints its energy in one spot. Then imagine harmonizing the microwaves. You get constructive interferance and this results in a wave with a bigger amplitude. bigger amp means more power to an already powerful weapon.
At this point, I sat back and pondered. I looked at a random "US using raygun in Iraq" article and read a supposed first hand account of the weapon in action. It shot a glowing beam; not unlike the glowing plasma seen in microwave ovens. I don't know... you connect the dots.[/img]
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| leohopkins |
| Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:05 pm Post subject: |
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Forum Professor
Joined: 10 Dec 2006
Posts: 1162
Location: Croydon, England
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Alright so it would burn a hole in someone ?
But where would the power come from on the battlefield if you wanted to build a personal weapon using this system ?
It would have to be small and light enough to carry but big enough to be powerful enough.
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The hand of time rested on the half-hour mark, and all along that old front line of the English there came a whistling and a crying. The men of the first wave climbed up the parapets, in tumult, darkness, and the presence of death, and having done with all pleasant things, advanced across No Man's Land to begin the Battle of the Somme. - Poet John Masefield.
www.leohopkins.com |
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| Guest |
| Posted: Mon Jan 15, 2007 3:44 pm Post subject: |
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Very simple Leo think of a 50 watt soldering Iron, gets up to 360Degs to melt Solder, now if you can concentrate that poer into a 'pencil beam' you have it. All the bad guys have to do is wear tinfoil in their clothing to reflect the beam.
Reminds me of a little story I know quite a bit about. - Russian tactics.
Russian scintists of the cold war period had a saying that went like this "For every million dollars the Americans spend, we spend a rouble".
Sounds funny but read behind it - Remember Mr Ronald Ray-gun (sorry Reagan)?- well he started a thing (or allowed to continue) a thing called "Star wars Defense initiative" - which meant the Americans shooting down Soviet missiles using lasers. - It got as far as a 50Kw laser shining on a model missile 100Metres away (and coated with a laser absorbing paint" after about 20 minutes the plane caught fire ans SDI was born. In the USSR scientists were aware of these tests and While the US was spending 'Godzillions' of tax payers dollars on R&D for these lasers The chief russian scientist decided that common kitchen foil (at a rouble a kilometer) would reflect the beam. The Russians actually told the Americans of this and well SDI was er cancelled.
Nasa spent about 20 Million Dollars on developing a pen that would write in Zero Gravity, the Russians took ... Pencils.
The Russians are a very practical bunch and whereas the US throws Dollars at a problem, the russians just.. well... used their brains... |
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| crichton01 |
| Posted: Wed Feb 21, 2007 10:54 am Post subject: |
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Joined: 14 Jan 2007
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Nasa spent about 20 Million Dollars on developing a pen that would write in Zero Gravity, the Russians took ... Pencils.
Common sense springs to mind, but i did find that comment hilarious. |
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