Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed

international | rights, freedoms and repression | other press

Sunday July 24, 2005 03:26

by Terry

Report in NewScientist magazine

Microwave beam weapons have now been developed by the US military for use in war and when the weapon is set to a lower setting it can be used against those trying to enforce democracy, such as at demonstrations and protests. However these are often referred to as riots by those in power.

Actually spurious reports elsewhere suggest this "crowd control" weapon may have already been used in Iraq and was used to incinerate people.

As further background to this device, it is worth noting that before the Laser was invented, the Maser had already been invented which is basically a microwave laser. It is far far easier to create a directed high power microwave beam with high efficiency which really means with a smaller power pack than a corresponding laser. This weapon folks is the stuff of nightmares and is very real.

Extract from the report follows.....

VOLUNTEERS taking part in tests of the Pentagon's "less-lethal" microwave weapon were banned from wearing glasses or contact lenses due to safety fears. The precautions raise concerns about how safe the Active Denial System (ADS) weapon would be if used in real crowd-control situations.

The ADS fires a 95-gigahertz microwave beam, which is supposed to heat skin and to cause pain but no physical damage (New Scientist, 27 October 2001, p 26). Little information about its effects has been released, but details of tests in 2003 and 2004 were revealed after Edward Hammond, director of the US Sunshine Project - an organisation campaigning against the use of biological and non-lethal weapons - requested them under the Freedom of Information Act.`

Full report at URL below