Features > January 12, 2007

Non-Lethal Weaponry: The Next Generation

By Silja J.A. Talvi

Plasma clouds, microwave beams, electrified bullets—military contractors have been developing futuristic new combat technologies under the public radar. Already, the TASER stun gun has emerged from the pages of speculative fiction, and into the hands of military, corrections, and law enforcement personnel (See “Stunning Revelations,” November 2006). But stun technology is just one tool in the arsenal for developers of proposed “non-lethal” weapons.

Guard that perimeter

For the past several years, Taser International, Inc. has been testing products with the military market in mind. Most recently it has been working on Tasernet, a weapon it describes as a “non-lethal area denial and force protection system.” In October, the Taser Remote Area Denial (T-RAD) concept was officially unveiled at the annual United States Army meeting in Washington, D.C.

When used in tandem with what Taser bills as the “companion computer networking system,” Tasernet, the defensive weaponry amounts to a “Star Trek”-style forcefield, stunning uninvited guests. Tasernet can capture digital facial scans, allowing authorized users through the forcefield. According to Taser’s press release, the T-RAD, based on the Taser X26 core technology, is “designed to be deployed at checkpoints, facility perimeters, embassies, airports, and other critical infrastructures.” The weapon is expected to be ready for deployment in 2008.

Projectiles with a zing

In July, three inventors applied for a U.S. patent on research that would enable the creation of wire-free, “piezoelectric” stun guns. (Piezoelectric crystals generate voltage in response to mechanical vibrations—”piezo” means “push” in Greek.) In their patent application, the inventors explain that their invention would create darts containing an explosive charge, which detonate upon contact with pierced skin. The guns could be used from a distance of nearly 500 feet.

In September 2005, the U.S. Correctional Special Operations Group (U.S. C-SOG) and the Australia-based Harrington Group also announced an agreement to develop weapons capable of introducing a piezoelectric charge to “traditional ammunition and other projectiles such as rubber bullets,” according to a jointly issued press release. With a patent pending, the two companies have trademarked the weapon technology under the name “ShockRounds.”

U.S. C-SOG is a corrections training firm specializing in emergency tactical operations for penal institutions; it boasts of having relationships with more than 4,000 correctional institutions in 14 countries. The companies describe ShockRounds as a “safe, less-lethal” product designed to provide correctional employees with a new way to subdue inmates and to quell “serious crowd disturbances and threat situations.”

Set phaser to stun

Raytheon, based in Palo Alto, Calif., is also testing numerous “non-lethal” weapons for military use, with funding from the National Institute of Justice. According to FOIA documents obtained by the U.S. Sunshine Project (http://www.sunshine-project.org), Raytheon’s Pulsed Energy Projectiles (PEPs) fire a laser burst of expanding plasma—a collection of charged particles containing equal parts positive ions and electrons. (In science fiction terms, this could best be described as a “raygun.”)

PEPs can be used from as far as two kilometers away, and are designed to create severe and debilitating pain resulting in temporary paralysis. Of particular concern is the fact that PEPs, apparently ready for use as early as 2007, are being investigated for use against “rioters,” according to the British science magazine New Scientist.

And an Anderson, Ind.-based company, Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), is marketing their Close Quarters Shock Rifle to the military. The Shock Rifle projects plasma toward a target, and can be used for shutting down the ignition systems of vehicles, as well as for crowd control.

According to a New Scientist interview with XADS president Peter Bitar, the weapon can fire “a stream of electricity like water out of a hose at one or many targets in a single sweep.” An even more advanced form of the weapon may have a range of more than 300 feet. New Scientist noted that this version would utilize a tabletop-sized laser to produce an intense pulse that would ionize the air itself. The process would produce “long, thread-like filaments of glowing plasma that [could] be sustained by repeating the pulse every few milliseconds.” The effect would be one of a shock similar to that of one of Taser’s 50,000-volt stun guns.

That burning sensation

Raytheon is also pursuing a microwave-technology-based weapon, named the Active Denial System (ADS), which fires a 95-gigahertz beam at its targets. Thus far, what is known about ADS is that people hit by the weapon’s beam experience a sharp rise in body heat and severe pain within five seconds of contact, an experience that is supposed to prompt targets to run in the other direction. A vehicle-mounted version of the weapon is already being designed for use in Iraq, while other portable versions are being designed for both U.S. Marine Corps and domestic law enforcement use.

A 2005 Reuters article noted that tests of the weapon have taken place at the Kirtland Air Force base in Albuquerque, N.M. As a part of those tests, researchers first made sure that participants removed all glasses, contact lenses and metal objects like keys, to prevent serious injury—of course, the conditions of real-world use are less controlled.

“How do you ensure that the dose doesn’t cross the threshold for permanent damage?” asked Neil Davison, coordinator of the non-lethal weapons research project at Britain’s Bradford University, in the Reuters article. Notably, one controlled test in New Mexico has already resulted in serious injury to a test subject, apparently after a higher-than-normal ADS power level setting was used.

Not so harmless

“Non-lethal” is still the operative term with all of these new weapons, but civilian experience with Taser stun guns shows that “non-lethal” means “usually not lethal.” Since 2001, roughly 200 people have died after being stunned with Tasers. Taser International, Inc., attributes all of the deaths to other causes, including acute intoxication and “excited delirium.” The U.S. Department of Justice has launched an investigation to review some of those deaths.

The rapid evolution of electricity-based weaponry raises concerns for abuse by governments and law enforcement agencies that have already demonstrated a propensity to use electrical shock weaponry as a form of torture.

During a March 2005 debate with Taser CEO Rick Smith, Amnesty International USA’s William Schulz pointed out that “stun technology in general is one of the most widely used instruments of torture around the world.”

Human rights advocates everywhere should bear that in mind. The new wave of shock technology isn’t just around the corner—it’s already here.

Thanks to the Nation Institute’s Investigative Fund for research support.

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• Reader Comments

  So what technology would be acceptable to bleeding hearts? NERF batons. Squirt guns? Harsh language?

  In a perfect world reason and logic would render technologies such as these a moot point. However the cracked out mental patients stalking our streets are immune to reason and logic. 

  Most if not all police departments require the officers who will carry TASER’s to be shocked by one. So of the thousands of officers who have received a TASER blast none have died or sustained any injury. Strange for such a “dangerous” weapon.

  The common denominator of the around 167 suspects who have died following TASER use?

  http://www.azcentral.com/specials/special43/articles/1224taserlist24-ON.html has the results of 50 autopsies.

  of the 50 cases 30 were under the influence of illegal drugs.  The remainder were mentally ill or pre existing health conditions.  Three were cause unknown. One case was considered illegal and resulted in the jailer being charged with battery with a deadly weapon.

  Posted by texasindependent on Jan 12, 2007 at 8:48 PM

  There are other options than “non-lethal” technologies.  Dresden, for example. 

  The fascist empire died of lethal force.

  The socialist empires died of corruption and inefficiency and sanity.  They were not crazy enough to blow up the world for their absurd political and economic beliefs.
  
  The Jihadists and their projected Caliphate are corrupt, inefficient, and insane.  They are quite willing to blow up the world to further their religious vision of Allah’s will. 

  The West can stop the Jihadists at little cost, just as it could have stopped Lenin in 1918, Hitler in 1938, and Mao in 1946, at little cost.  When people like Lenin, Hitler, Mao, and the Jihadists are kind enough to describe in detail that they want to destroy you and your way of life, you are probably safe in believing them.  And sooner or later, they must be stopped, or yielded to.

  The strangest aspect of the Jihadist threat is it’s objective weakness.  All the Jihadist technology is borrowed, or stolen.  But the Jihadists have strength in their singleness of purpose, their intimidation of Muslim and non-Muslim populations, and the dying gasps of leftists who are unable to change history, and unwilling to accept history’s decrees, and therefore have allied themselves with the most self-destructive, unstable totalitarian philosophy of the last one hundred years, which has seen other, stronger totalitarian philosophies go down to defeat. 

  TASER the bastards, and be done with it.

  Posted by scorp on Jan 13, 2007 at 1:45 PM

  Tex and Scorp,

  “TASER the bastards, and be done with it.” Seems strange anyone could be opposed to this as a weapon of war being too severe. My skeptical view is if it became SOP it would embolden an enemy to think — A. He has little to lose and will still be able try again. B. He’s dealing with a wimpy bunch.

  I guess I would admit it as preferable to nuking the whole bunch.
  Since we still are unwilling to commit the numbers of troops needed to truly secure Iraq, I can see a danger of a nuclear escalation over there. If we are nuked in any way here (dirty bomb or whatever) we will see a national reunification borne of fear, to do whatever it takes.

  It took Pearl Harbor to commit to total war with a goal of unconditional surrender to overcome the pacifists and isolationists in WWll. We had downsized our military then (as Clinton did again) and were unable to launch an overwhelming deterrent to the Nazis and Imperial Japan, but in less than three years were turning out planes, tanks and all forms of weapons by the tens of thousands.

  We no longer have this capability due to globalization/offshoring of our manufacturing. If faced with a great enough perception of annihilation — people will do anything.

  Posted by whattheheck on Jan 14, 2007 at 11:44 AM

  Sticking to the topic..... Less than lethal technology is the greatest leap forward in law enforcement in the past hundred years. Beanbag shells, sticky nets, TASER’s, Pepper Spray, Water Cannons, and now the new generation of Pulsed Energy Projectiles and Active Denial System. Lasers and Microwaves are the best leap forward to offer an alternative to simply shooting a suspect with a weapon.

  The key word to understand is LESS THAN LETHAL. The technology is based on pain to incapacitate rather than kill. As with any technology death or injury is always a possibility. Considering the tens of thousands of suspects who have been arrested without incident using TASER’s and other LTL technology the 167 deaths are a statistical aberration.

  Posted by texasindependent on Jan 14, 2007 at 1:14 PM

  WTH -

  TASERing the bastards is not the object, but the means to the object. 

  The objects are to preserve Lebanese independence, to sever the shaky mutual admiration society between Persian Iran and Arab Syria, to stop the killing in Iraq and allow democracy to grow there, to allow the Palestinians to burn out their passion against each other rather than against Israel, to further development of democracy in the other Arab states, and to prevent Iran from developing nukes and thereby controlling the oil resources of the Middle East. 

  In this regard, Luttwak has a clarifying article in WSJ that brings vague observations into sharp focus.

  http://opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009521

  We no longer have this capability (mass military hardware production) due to globalization/offshoring of our manufacturing.

  WTH, knock this crap off.  We manufacture more than we ever have, and we do it with fewer people.  The stuff that is purchased offshore is low tech items such as textiles and household goods.  We have the finest high tech manufacturing capability in the world, certainly including aviation, avionics, electronics, tanks and armored vehicles, and combat shipbuilding.  No one comes close to our capability for quality and quantity in these areas.  Relax.

  Posted by scorp on Jan 14, 2007 at 1:20 PM

• extended discussion >>>Continued...

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