<HTML>Microwave weapon 'less lethal', but still not safe
16 September 2006
NewScientist.com news service
www.newscientist.com/channel/health/mg19125695.800-microwave-weapon-less-lethal-but-still-not-safe.html
The Active Denial System, the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave-based crowd-control weapon, produces potentially harmful hotspots when used in built-up areas, and its effects can be intensified by sweaty skin. The flaws call into question the weapon's usefulness in hot conditions, like those in Iraq.
The ADS fires a microwave beam intended to heat skin without causing damage, while inflicting enough pain to force the victim to move away. However, tests of the weapon showed that reflections off buildings, water or even the ground can produce peak energy densities twice as high as the main beam. Contact with sweat or moist fabric such as a sweaty waistband further intensifies the effect.
The safety concerns, revealed in the details of 14 tests carried out by the US air force between 2002 and 2006, were acquired under a Freedom of Information request by Edward Hammond of the Sunshine Project USA, which campaigns against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons. Test details released to the organisation last year revealed that volunteers taking part in the tests had been banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses because of safety fears (New Scientist, 23 July 2005, p 26).
Nevertheless, the weapon may be safer than some alternatives. More than 9000 experimental exposures to the ADS have produced just six cases of blistering and one second-degree burn caused by an accidental overexposure. The US army wants permission to deploy the system in Iraq, but the decision has been delayed while tests continue.
From issue 2569 of New Scientist magazine, 16 September 2006, page 27</HTML>
