<HTML>COOL TECH THIS WEEK: Human Ray Guns...
Military.com , September 2005
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www.military.com]
Is the Defense Deparment about to test their new pain ray on humans? ... Keep up with the cutting-edge tech news from the past week.
More Cash for Human Ray Gun Tests
The Pentagon is dead serious about getting its pain ray into the field soon -- serious enough to test the system out on people.
Defense Industry Daily notes that " Conceptual MindWorks in San Antonio, TX received a $7 million cost-plus fixed-fee contract to provide for research support around emerging directed energy weapons... and their effects on humans."
Work will be conducted in cooperation with the Air Force Research Laboratory, Human Effectiveness Directorate... located in Brooks City-Base, TX. The scope of the proposed contract will focus on bioeffects research on directed energy and kinetic energy systems, to assist in transitioning DoD technologies from the lab to the front lines.
Using electro-magnetic waves that penetrate just a 64th of inch beneath the skin, the Defense Department's pain ray creates a burning sensation that tends to make people run the other way, fast.
Hundreds of people have been voluntarily zapped by the device, known as the Active Denial System, with a little, if any, lasting damage. But that testing was called into question last month, when New Scientist revealed that the trials weren't as realistic as they could have been.
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.... People playing rioters put up their hands when hit and were given a 15-second cooling-down period before being targeted again.
A prototype Humvee-mounted ADS system could be sent to Iraq by the end of the year. A modified Stryker armored personnel carrier, equipped with a low-power version of the pain ray, a laser dazzler, and a sonic blaster, isn't all that far behind, officials familiar with the program say.</HTML>
