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?