The weapon in question, it would seem, is the very place in some sci-fi thrillers, and not in the streets of our cities. In its development, the United States undoubtedly has a leading place. Devices that use microwave energy to sound trumpets in your head, blinding laser beams, special chemicals and acoustic cannons are all new generation tools for quelling civil unrest.
The Pentagon qualifies these weapons as "non-lethal" or "temporary defeat." It is intended to be used against unarmed people: breaking up demonstrations, pacifying individual raging individuals, or defending borders. That is, it is a more modern version of the police baton, pepper spray and tear gas. And, as journalist Ando Arik said, "We are witnessing the first arms race in which the entire population is opposed."
The need to create this kind of non-lethal weapon was dictated at one time by the role that television played in public life. In the 1960s and 70s, Americans were first able to witness police brutality against members of antiwar movements.
Today, thanks to modern media and telecommunications, it has become much easier to capture and publish photo or video evidence of the illegal use of force by law enforcement officials. The authorities are well aware of the threats to the publication of such materials. In 1997, a joint Pentagon-US Department of Justice report issued this warning:
“Even the lawful use of force can be misrepresented or misinterpreted by the public. More than ever, the police and military must exercise discretion in the use of force."
The global economic crisis, disasters and cataclysms, a shortage of natural resources, the onset of a new era requiring self-restraint and blatant inequality between people - all this led to massive protests in Spain, Greece, Egypt … And Americans have a rich history of defending their rights on the streets.
Meanwhile, tens of millions of dollars are being invested in the creation of weapons that the media would have no significant claims, and which the police could use every day to control large crowds. As a result, old-style weapons are gradually being replaced by more exotic and controversial technologies of the future.
1. A ray of pain or the "Holy Grail" of crowd control
This is not a Star Wars weapon as it might seem. The unit is called the Active Denial System (ADS) and works like an outdoor microwave oven. An electromagnetic beam aimed at the victim's skin creates an unbearable burning sensation and forces them to flee. The developers called this effect the Goodbye effect.
The authors of the Pentagon's program for the creation of "non-lethal weapons" believe that "such a weapon makes it possible to stop, scare away and take to flight the advancing enemy without causing him physical harm."
However, a 2008 report by physicist and temporary weapons expert Dr. Jürgen Altman found a slightly different conclusion:
“… The“Active Kickback System”has the technical ability to cause a second or third degree burn. Since the beam diameter is 2 meters or more, that is, exceeds the size of a person, burns can cover a significant part of the body - up to 50 percent of the skin surface. Despite the fact that second and third degree burns, covering more than 20 percent of the body surface, already pose a threat to life and require intensive treatment in a specialized clinic. Without a guarantee that the pain beam will hit the same target again, such a system poses a potential threat to health and even human life."
For the first time this weapon was tested in Afghanistan, but later it was banned due to a number of technical difficulties and political problems. One such concern was concerns that the Active Knockback System would be used as a torture tool, and its continued use was deemed “politically unreasonable,” according to the Defense Science Council's report.
While the pain beam has been deemed too controversial a weapon to be used in a military setting, there seems to be nothing too sadistic for American prisoners. Therefore, the "Active Knockback System" was modified by Raytheon into a more compact version, which entered service with law enforcement agencies.
The System was renamed the Violence Stopping Device last year and was installed at Pitchess Prison, California. The former head of the Los Angeles Police Department, Charles Hill, has been seeking permission to use this device for several years, calling it the "Holy Grail of crowd control" because of its ability to disperse any crowd almost instantly.
The device is operated by a prison officer using a joystick, and it is designed to suppress riots, fights between inmates and to repel aggression directed at the guards. Sheriff Lee Baka believes that the main advantage of the system is that it allows you to quickly end a conflict situation without the need for physical intervention.
The American Civil Liberties Union demanded to prohibit the use of devices of this kind against American prisoners, considering them tantamount to "instruments of torture." According to human rights activists, “inflicting unnecessary pain, as well as the unjustified risk to which human life is exposed, is a clear violation of the Eighth Amendment (an amendment to the US Constitution, which states:“Excessive bail should not be required, excessive fines should not be imposed, and unusual punishments "; approx. mixednews)".
The pain beam used at Pitchess Prison is an experimental project. If he proves himself to be effective, he will make his way to other prisons in the country. The National Institute of Justice is also interested in this weapon, so it is quite possible that in the foreseeable future it will go into service with police departments throughout the country.
2. Blinding laser
The PHaSR (Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response) laser rifle is a joint project of the National Institute of Justice, the Pentagon's non-lethal weapons program and the Department of Defense. The development of the weapon was entrusted to the Air Force Research Laboratory. Moreover, the Pentagon is interested in creating technology for military needs, and the National Institute of Justice - for the needs of law enforcement agencies.
Appointment of a new laser toy? She does not kill, but only blinds for a while. Or, to use the National Institute of Justice's favorite phrase, "leads to visual disorientation," using two low-power, diode-pumped laser beams.
In 1995, laser weapons that harm eyesight were banned by a UN convention called the Blinding Laser Weapons Protocol. After that, the Pentagon was forced to close several programs in development. However, the developers managed to defend the PHaSR rifle due to its short duration of action, and the fact that the Protocol does not prohibit the use of lasers that do not cause irreversible visual impairment.
The US Department of Defense believes that such a weapon can become indispensable in situations where, for example, you need to temporarily blind suspects passing through a roadblock.
3. Remote electroshock weapon Taser
The main disadvantage of previous versions of the Taser weapon was its limited range - no more than six meters. To solve this problem, Taser International has teamed up with Metal Storm, an Australian electric weapons company. The result of their collaboration was a 12-gauge shotgun called the MAUL.
The Maul shotgun shoots autonomous electroshock charges at a distance of up to 30 m. The principle of its operation differs from the principle of operation of traditional firearms in that it uses electricity instead of gunpowder for shooting.
The store contains five stun cartridges, each of which has its own power source. This makes it possible to fire five shots with a frequency of less than two seconds.
In September 2010, the Raw Story reported an increase in Taser-related deaths. And according to data published in a report by the human rights organization Amnesty International, between June 2001 and August 2008, the number of deaths from Taser was more than 4 per month. Moreover, 90 percent of the victims were unarmed and could not pose a serious threat. Human rights activists fear that the Taser weapon "can be used for violence, because it is easy to carry, it causes great pain and does not leave noticeable marks." If the MAUL goes into service with police stations across the country, it is easy to predict a serious increase in the number of deaths associated with it.
Another project of Taser International, which became known in 2009, is the Shockwave system, which allows you to cover a large sector of fire and pacify an uncontrollable crowd with high-voltage discharges. In 2007, the same company announced plans to create a weapon that fires temporarily unconscious arrow-shaped bullets.
4. Sedative for rebels
In 1997, the "Chemical Weapons Convention" was adopted, imposing obligations on its participants to renounce the use of chemical weapons for the conduct of hostilities.
However, some sedatives have long been in the arsenal of both military and law enforcement agencies, and are widely used to disperse crowds, tame insurgents or individual, especially violent, offenders.
The most famous chemical weapons for crowd control are tear gas and chloroacetophenone, also known as police irritant gas Mace.
Several more advanced sedatives may be used depending on the environment in which law enforcement agencies have to operate. These include products that are applied to the skin, penetrate the skin, various aerosols, intramuscular arrow-shaped bullets and rubber bullets filled with dust that penetrates the upper respiratory tract.
The March 2010 issue of Harper magazine published an overview of riot containment technologies. The article was titled “Soft Murder. New frontiers in a deal with pain. Its author Ando Araik writes:
“The Pentagon's interest in 'next-generation police controls' has long been an open secret. It was only in 2002, when an arms control group posted a collection of Pentagon documents obtained under the Freedom of Information Act on the Internet, did it become clear how close we were to seeing these new items in action. Among the documents was a fifty-page report entitled "The Advantages and Disadvantages of Using Sedatives as a Non-Lethal Weapon." The research was conducted by a research laboratory at the University of Pennsylvania.
This report calls “the development and use of non-lethal sedative technologies” as “available and desirable,” and lists a long list of “promising” drugs, including Valium, Prozac, or opiates like morphine, fentanyl, and carfentanyl.
According to the researchers, only two problems can be associated with the use of such means: 1) the need for specialized vehicles for delivery and 2) in the correct calculation of doses. But both of them are easily solved through strategic partnerships with the pharmaceutical industry.
In July 2008, the monthly military magazine "Army" published an article about the launch of the production of non-lethal weapons XM1063. It is an artillery shell that explodes in the air over a target, scattering 152 chemical-filled tiny capsules over an area of over 30 square meters, which then settles onto the crowd, essentially having a massive narcotic effect.
5. Microwave gun MEDUSA
The British corporation Sierra Nevada, commissioned by the US Navy, continues to develop a microwave weapons system called MEDUSA. This system uses the ability to transmit short microwave pulses over significant distances and cause an acoustic shock to the enemy, nullifying his combat effectiveness.
The device is based on the well-known microwave auditory effect: the generation of sound in the inner ear of a person in response to exposure to microwaves of certain frequencies.
MEDUSA is designed to keep crowds from entering a protected area, such as a nuclear facility, and makes it possible, if necessary, to neutralize an uncontrollable offender.
6. Deafening siren
The LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device), also known as a sonic / acoustic cannon, is the brainchild of American Technology Corporation. This device was created in 2000 to protect ships from pirate attacks. LRAD amazes people with a powerful 150 decibel sound. For comparison, the noise of jet aircraft engines is about 120 decibels, while 130 decibels can damage a person's hearing aids.
Americans first tested the effects of these weapons in Pittsburgh, during the 2009 G20 summit.
Finally
Of course, weapons of temporary destruction do allow the police to quickly deal with the crowd and restore law and order with the least amount of casualties.
But by learning to use pain as a means of coercion, the power structures gained their long-desired power over human sensations.
This means that the opportunity for a public protest demonstration in the future is practically reduced to zero. And at a time when the need for change is becoming more and more obvious for our society and for the entire planet, the authorities have more and more diverse and reliable means to pacify those who disagree.
