U.S. Military publicly unveils heat-ray gun

[XanBcoo]

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

I'm actually pretty excited to hear this news. I remember reading about this weapon roughly 4 years ago, when it was still in early-to-mid production stages. I've had an interest in non-lethal weapons ever since. I think it's cool that it's coming along without very many kinks so far. I can't wait until 5 years from now, when they've really got the technology down for this stuff.

Right now, there seems to be a lot of focus mainly on crowd/riot control, but its usage in armed conflict has a lot of potential as well. I'm no anti-war activist, but if it were possible to easily incapacitate enemy troops instead of killing them on the spot, I wouldn't complain. Or if it got to the point where troops could simply heat an entire area, making it so that enemy forces could not physically defend themselves. That's neat.

Or they could just crank up the heat and, y'know, vaporize people. Heh.


http://www.guardian.co.uk/usa/story/0,,1999141,00.html

This article talks about a few safety concerns. I agree that in the wrong hands, this is a pretty dangerous tool. But hey, what weapon isn't?

[6Zabuza9]

wow!! they better make a freeze gun next :)

[Assassin]

Thats pretty neat.

But it makes you wonder. How long before they go even further with this technoogy and develop a version that can incinerate a river in a matter of minutes. What happens when a secret organization of ninja terrorists steals it and trys to evaporate the gotham river?? The military will be useless, and we will have only one hope......THE DARK KNIGHT!

[el_boss]

Next step... light sabres :D

[Danad_corps]

Neat idea but i don't know how useful it will be in real life situations. In an angry mob there are hundreds of people (its not called a mob for fun!). If someone is being attacked, people resort to human instinct (protect your children and then every man for himself). They are not going to stand there sending new waves to the vanguard as the previous ones return to the back (that would be a good strategy on their part seeing that by the time the initial group gets sent to the front again, they'd have completed the "cooling period"). Most likely a few in the front will be kept in the front and will receive blisters if not burns. A better crowd-control would be to use that linear sound wave device they showed on Future Weapons.

Btw, i loved that diagram of how it works(the skin part was actually a little informative).

Truck -----(beam)--------->[person]

This could be awesome for use as an actual weapon though. I'm sure they could tweak it so that it's waves penetrate deeper into the skin or just so that its much more efficient at heating things up. Either way, it'd probably be great for making a grilled cheese sandwich.

[ChaosK]

I had the same reaction my friend did..."wtf this isn't star wars".

[XanBcoo]

Neat idea but i don't know how useful it will be in real life situations. In an angry mob there are hundreds of people (its not called a mob for fun!). If someone is being attacked, people resort to human instinct (protect your children and then every man for himself). They are not going to stand there sending new waves to the vanguard as the previous ones return to the back (that would be a good strategy on their part seeing that by the time the initial group gets sent to the front again, they'd have completed the "cooling period"). Most likely a few in the front will be kept in the front and will receive blisters if not burns. A better crowd-control would be to use that linear sound wave device they showed on Future Weapons.
I see what you're saying, but I got the impression that since it's a semi-focused blast and pretty maneuverable, it would be easy to shoot multiple targets. It's not like they're planning on keeping the beam on the "first wave" watching them writhe around in pain. They're gonna target the immediate threat, not the guys who have already been downed.

[Death BOO Z]

hey're gonna target the immediate threat, not the guys who have already been downed.

I find it hard to believe... it's the army, it's too much of a burden for them to target anybody... you pick a target, you stick with it until someone else gets inside the beam...

[complich8]

I was under the impression that this is more of an area-of-effect thing. It's directed, but it's still fairly broad, designed to make a whole lot of people in a small area quite uncomfortable.

Rotating lines of people probably wouldn't work too well. Similarly, it's not going to "down" anyone ... it's going to make people not want to be where they are.

Lastly, the military has very strict codes of ethics. It's unethical to fire indiscriminately, particularly in the presence of innocent bystanders. An incapacitated person would definitely qualify as a bystander, so I don't think the "focus fire on one person" deal would really fly.

[Danad_corps]

I would think that the "focus fire on one person" would be mandatory for this type of machine. People in a mob usually wont do anything until someone takes some initiative. Lets say that one person is planning to do something dangerous (starts to throw a rock). So far, he is the only threat at the time. If you fire the weapon into the group of "bystanders" you would be breaching the code of ethics.
At this point in time you either need to have two separate weapons (one focused on incapacitating one threat and the other for crowd control) or one weapon with two types of fire (as aforementioned). It would be a lot more efficient to have one weapon do the job rather two.

I know this is not what you were saying Complich8, but your point raised a good issue. As of right now, we do not know the dimensions of the area affected. Does this weapon have the ability to focus in on a single target and/or the ability to broaden its attack area? That would be a very unique and a very important feature that i think they should include in this weapon. I'm sure this could be made possible by making the source dish-shaped and having a movable lens that would be able to broaden/close the area of attack according to our laws of lenses.
What would this do to the intensity of the heat blast though? I know if you do this with sunlight it would tremendously increase the intensity, but i guess you could have the motion of the lens function inversely with the intensity of the beam. That should solve the problem concerning that.

[Death BOO Z]

Lastly, the military has very strict codes of ethics. It's unethical to fire indiscriminately, particularly in the presence of innocent bystanders.



So far, he is the only threat at the time. If you fire the weapon into the group of "bystanders" you would be breaching the code of ethics.

you guys are funny...

anyway, there's no such thing as a bystander in a riot, that's what this weapon is meant for, make you feel pain to the level you run away from the perimiter... it starts as Riot control and ends up as an instrument to kill by dehydration...

[Lefty]

Either way you look at it non leathal weapons can have a lethal effect. Espacially in the hands of under trained soilders(go US military). War with out death is not war, it's a game. Peace is created with the bodies of the dead, military or civillan.

[DB_Hunter]

Cover you body in standard kitchen aluminium foil and cover your eyes with a fine wire mesh. The weapon is then useless. Get the aluminium smooth enough and you can reflect the waves back.

Let the fun and games begin.

[Lefty]

The great irony about what you say DB is that someone will invent something about that simple to defend against it.

[Kraco]

Well, I'm sure the troops will still carry with them rubber bullets reserved exclusively for people wearing tin-foil hats.

[DB_Hunter]

The great irony about what you say DB is that someone will invent something about that simple to defend against it.

I agree... but I guess that's one of the reasons why technology keeps advancing, especially in the millitary field.

[Inazuma]

U.s Military wants to boost up Haagen Daas market results !

[Winged Dancer]

Well, I'm all for non-lethal weapons. Living in Mexico City I've grown used to mobs, blockades and, to a lesser degree, lynchings, and thus I've wished for a while that there was a way to disperse these people without inflicting any harm and without having the Human Rights Comitee sueing left and right.

This might do the trick. The burn-sensation would be too much for the "victim" to keep the acting violent but it wouldn't do any long-term damage... they just need to make the target area wide enough.

By the way, Death Boo Z, if I remember correctly, you were in the army for a while, right? Maybe still?
(not the US army, I know, I know)
Well, you'd know better than us just how much is the code of ethics really followed and how much of it is just pretty words to make citzens feel happy.

[EpyonNext]

It's actually called Code of Conduct, not code of ethics. Furthermore, in the CoC, it basically says you can only use lethal force on two conditions.

1. If someone is using lethal force against you(I.E. Shooting @ you)
2. Self Defense (I.E. Someone is pointing a gun at you)'

There are a few finer scenarios but a group of angry people isnt grounds to let loose with the bullet hoses. As for how it's followed? Well, if you dont follow it, I hope you like military prision, because that is where you are going.

[Super5]

Pretty interesting... I remember something about a weapon of this type a few years ago. I think it works on the principle of microwaves, just like heating your food. Microwaves are tuned to heat water molecules, which would heat humans since we are about 70% water.

Anyway, the defense for a weapon like this is simple. All you need is a metal mesh screen (like in your microwave door) to cover your body. The mesh is pretty porous since it only needs to stop wavelengths on the order of a few millimeters. If this thing goes into use, I'm sure people will figure this out and start to sell cheap mesh suits like this to counteract it. It's a good idea though, since I doubt people will come to riots with protection... unless they are there specifically to start trouble.

[DB_Hunter]

Chainmail comes to mind lol

[complich8]

stops arrows, protects against casual spear thrusts and sword slashes, stops microwaves, makes interesting lingerie...

Ahh, chainmail... is there anything you can't do?