Ray gun makes targets feel as if they are on fire

[Eddo36]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/24/ray.gun.ap/index.html

 

 

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia (AP) -- The military's new weapon is a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they will catch fire.

 

The technology is supposed to be harmless -- a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.

 

Military officials say it could save the lives of civilians and service members in places like Iraq and Afghanistan.

 

The weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010, but all branches of the military have expressed interest in it, officials said.

 

During the first media demonstration of the weapon Wednesday, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios U.S. troops might encounter.

 

The crew fired beams from more than 500 yards (455 meters) away, nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.

 

While the sudden, 130-degree Fahrenheit (54.44 Celsius) heat was not painful, it was intense enough to make participants think their clothes were about to ignite.

 

"This is one of the key technologies for the future," said Marine Col. Kirk Hymes, director of the non-lethal weapons program that helped develop the weapon. "Non-lethal weapons are important for the escalation of force, especially in the environments our forces are operating in."

 

The system uses millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, common kitchen microwaves penetrate several inches of skin.

 

The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the waves can go through glass.

 

Two airmen and 10 reporters volunteered to be zapped with the beams, which easily penetrated various layers of winter clothing.

 

The system was developed by the military, but the two devices being evaluated were built by defense contractor Raytheon.

 

Airman Blaine Pernell, 22, said he could have used the system during his four tours in Iraq, where he manned watchtowers around a base near Kirkuk. He said Iraqis often pulled up and faked car problems so they could scout U.S. forces.

 

"All we could do is watch them," he said. But if they had the ray gun, troops "could have dispersed them."

[Laozi]

lamers.

 

 

Not to get too Napoleon Dynamite, but did anyone know besides Kor that male Ligers are born sterile?

[Kor Qel Droma]

And they're really freakin' huge, too!!

[theslug]

As far as i know 130 degrees isn't that hot, at least directly pointed at you. It regularly gets 115-120 here not to mention it reflecting off the asphalt and other things making it hotter. I mean its hot but its not that hot.

[Laozi]

And they're really freakin' huge, too!!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

 

Yeah, no growth inhibitors

[tarna]

http://www.cnn.com/2007/TECH/01/24/ray.gun.ap/index.html

MOODY AIR FORCE BASE, Georgia (AP) -- The military's new weapon is a ray gun that shoots a beam that makes people feel as if they will catch fire.

 

The technology is supposed to be harmless -- a non-lethal way to get enemies to drop their weapons.

The system uses millimeter waves, which can penetrate only 1/64th of an inch of skin, just enough to cause discomfort. By comparison, common kitchen microwaves penetrate several inches of skin.

I thought this reeked of bulls**t. Penetration of radiation is not just a function of frequency but also of intensity. You can safely talk on your cell phone with it's minimal power output but stand in front of a high powered repeater that runs at the same frequency and you won't be having any children. Some of the sites I work around require us to wear a gizmo that constantly monitors how much wattage we are being exposed to and will alarm at a set 'danger level'.

Penetrate skin to 1/64th of an inch at what range and what power level and over what period of time? Stand on top of that antenna for 10 minutes and let me know how you feel. Do you guys know what Rocky Mountain Oysters are?

The millimeter waves cannot go through walls, but they can penetrate most clothing, officials said. They refused to comment on whether the waves can go through glass.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

My guess without looking around yet is that Yes, they will travel through glass with little or no deflection because of their frequency. Millimeter waves are between radios waves and microwaves and glass is radio transparent to both.

 

The millimeter-wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum is usually considered to be the range of wavelengths from 10 millimeters (0.4 inches) to 1 millimeter (0.04 inches). This means they are larger than infrared waves or x-rays, for example, but smaller than radio waves or microwaves. The millimeter-wave region of the electromagnetic spectrum corresponds to radio band frequencies of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and is sometimes called the Extremely High Frequency (EHF) range. The high frequency of millimeters waves as well as their propagation characteristics (that is, the ways they change or interact with the atmosphere as they travel) make them useful for a variety of applications including transmitting large amounts of computer data, cellular communications, and radar.

 

As far as i know 130 degrees isn't that hot, at least directly pointed at you.  It regularly gets 115-120 here not to mention it reflecting off the asphalt and other things making it hotter.  I mean its hot but its not that hot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I think @140 deg F is the threshold of pain for most people. If I suddenly felt like I was at 130 deg F, I'd be in full panic mode looking for a lake to dive into until ( if ) I realised what was happening. 130 deg air is one thing ( minimal heat transfer to the body ). Feeling that temperature being fed directly into you via a broadcasting antenna would be quite another situation. Take a pot of water and a thermometer and raise it's temp to 130 deg and stick your hand in it. You won't leave it in there very long. And in this case you know what's happening. Try having your entire body subjected to this without warning.

 

The nice thing about this sort of wave is that it would be blocked by most any metal. Make sure to wear your foil hats and skivies next time you plan to attend a riot. Hang a small chain from it that drags the ground to disappate whatever conversion of radio waves to electricity ( as occurs in a microwave oven with gold, tin, iron ). Could be quite hair-raising otherwise.

 

EDIT - BTW...my guess from it's frequency is that high humidity as well as rain would severely damage the effectiveness of this device.

[Deraldin]

I think @140 deg F is the threshold of pain for most people. If I suddenly felt like I was at 130 deg F, I'd be in full panic mode looking for a lake to dive into until ( if ) I realised what was happening. 130 deg air is one thing ( minimal heat transfer to the body ). Feeling that temperature being fed directly into you via a beam antenna would be quite another situation. Take a pot of water and a thermometer and raise it's temp to 130 deg and stick your hand in it. You won't leave it in there very long. And in this case you know what's happening. Try having your entire body subjected to this without warning. 

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Well if you think about it, what does it feel like when you have a fever? That's usually only a few degrees above normal body temp and that can make you feel quite hot.

[tarna]

Well if you think about it, what does it feel like when you have a fever? That's usually only a few degrees above normal body temp and that can make you feel quite hot.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The body feels hot when it has more heat than it is able to dissipate. It feels cold if it is dissipating it's heat too rapidly. Water on the body as well as air movement to remove that heat will make the body feel cooler even though it is still generating the same amount of heat.

 

This thing would be closer to standing in front of a heat lamp with a blindfold. A direct feed of energy bypassing all the body's means of assimilating it.

[tarna]

Oh golly. More BS on the part of someone reporting the story. It seems that millimeter waves will penetrate walls...

Exploitation of Millimeter Waves for Through-wall Surveillance during Military Operations in Urban Warfare

 

One of the main concerns during military operations in urban terrain is detecting people through walls. The problem is being addressed through the development of technology that exploits millimeter wave radiation. Millimeter waves penetrate non-conductive walls and clothing, making through-wall surveillance possible. The human body emits millimeter waves that can be received by passive detectors. Active millimeter wave radar can detect human body surface motion, including heartbeat and respiration.

 

http://www.rmc.ca/academic/gradrech/military6_e.html

 

And at the low level rate emitted by a person's body at that. Can you smell the bulls**t folks?

 

 

If someone lies to you once, would you ever trust their word again?

[Walsingham]

Through wall surveillance is nonsense. Less-than-lethal microwaves are already in use. Same for using sound. It's what you pinkos demanded, after all.

[Sand]

What wee need is a wide dispersing ray gun that can incinerate a body from 200 meters away. I think if someone suddenly caught on fire out of seemingly out of nowhere people will disperse rather quickly.

[Gfted1]

Ive been reading about this platform for a while now, very interesting. AFAIK, the reason it hurts to be hit by this is that it heats the water in your skin and yes, 130F hurts. I also believe thats its lowest setting and can be dialed up easily. Pity we wont have a chance to deploy it in Iraq and get some real world experience with its performance, potential counter measures, maintenance in the field/resistance to damage, etc... I see a lot of promise with this especially considering its excellent downfield range.

[Walsingham]

Glad to see you chaps so keen to boil people.

[Atreides]

Sounds cool! I saw this on tv but back then the generators were pretty big and weren't portable yet.

[metadigital]

Through wall surveillance is nonsense. Less-than-lethal microwaves are already in use. Same for using sound. It's what you pinkos demanded, after all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Chinese have had lasers that can be deployed in the battlefield to blind troops (either temporarily or permanently) for about a decade, too.

[Walsingham]

Through wall surveillance is nonsense. Less-than-lethal microwaves are already in use. Same for using sound. It's what you pinkos demanded, after all.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Chinese have had lasers that can be deployed in the battlefield to blind troops (either temporarily or permanently) for about a decade, too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

Which are supposed to be against the Geneva conventions. Nice to know I can be blinded by supersonic bits of metal wire, but if a laser does it that's OK.

[Gfted1]

Heres the wiki article on the Active Denial System in case anyone is interested.

 

I wonder if the emitter fires in a straight line or a conical shape. I would assume the latter because the former would only zap 2-3 people at a time.

Edited January 25, 2007 by Gfted1

[Laozi]

The Chinese have had lasers that can be deployed in the battlefield to blind troops (either temporarily or permanently) for about a decade, too.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

 

Yeah, I have a couple of laserpointers too

[metadigital]

Actually, it's got me wondering why the Coalition aren't using more non-lethal force ... it's a great way to test the stuff, and it certainly isn't pleasant (being sprayed with gallons of glue: Hooray!); they would also get a lot of kudos for their softly-softly approach. :D

[213374U]

Whatever happened to the good ol' Death Ray projects?

 

What's with this trend of watering down everything lately...

[Jorian Drake]

Whatever happened to the good ol' Death Ray projects?

 

What's with this trend of watering down everything lately...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Not so time and money consuming than a DeathStar,

and also Uncle Lucas doesn't bug you because the license.

 

 

 

 

 

 

...Gosh, looking at his photo i have the feeling he could be also a nice Darth George with black cloak/cape and a red LS.

[Surreptishus]

Dear Jorian,

What???

 

Yours,

 

Surreptishus

[Dark_Raven]

What wee need is a wide dispersing ray gun that can incinerate a body from 200 meters away.  I think if someone suddenly caught on fire out of seemingly out of nowhere people will disperse rather quickly.

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

[Gorth]

Actually, it's got me wondering why the Coalition aren't using more non-lethal force ... it's a great way to test the stuff, and it certainly isn't pleasant (being sprayed with gallons of glue: Hooray!); they would also get a lot of kudos for their softly-softly approach. :D

...having visions of of fast moving armoured assault vehicles, armed with huge nozzles spraying superglue on the crowds...

 

Gives new meaning the the term *Freeze! Don't move!*

[tarna]

Whatever happened to the good ol' Death Ray projects?

 

What's with this trend of watering down everything lately...

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Ever since we tried making the neutron bomb so we could keep peoples' real estate and everyone bitched, we've had to play nice nice. :angry: