Report: Raytheon 'heat beam' weapon ready for Iraq

[The Straight Story]

Report: Raytheon 'heat beam' weapon ready for Iraq
Boston Business Journal

Government defense giant Raytheon Co. has developed the first nonlethal weapon that fires a heat beam to repel enemies and reduces the chance of innocent civilians being shot, a Pentagon official said.

Raytheon, the world's largest missile maker, delivered a prototype to the U.S. military last month. The product is expected to be evaluated from February through June to determine whether to equip U.S. forces with it, Colonel David Karcher, director of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, told Bloomberg Business News.

With U.S. casualties in Iraq rising, expectations are growing that Raytheon's weapon, called the Active Denial System, could be sent to Iraq in the next year, according to Charles "Sid'' Heal, commander of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. A former Marine, Heal headed nonlethal-weapons training for the U.S. military in Somalia in 1995 and advised Raytheon on the beam's development.

"It's there, it's ready,'' said Heal, who has felt the weapon's beam and compares it to having a hot iron placed on the skin. "It will likely be in Iraq in the next 12 months. They are very, very close.''

The weapon, mounted on a Humvee vehicle, projects a "focused, speed-of-light millimeter wave energy beam to induce an intolerable heating sensation,'' according to a U.S. Air Force fact sheet. The energy penetrates less than 1/64 of an inch into the skin and the sensation ceases when the target moves out of the beam.

The weapon could be used for crowd control...

http://boston.bizjournals.com/boston/stories/2004/11/29/daily30.html

[jimshoes]

1. Could also be used to blind everyone in Iraq

or Iran or Portland or ....

[Turn CO Blue]

2. Sure. Crowd control. The inventor's mother must be so proud.

Every day they find a new way to piss me off!

[DrWeird]

3. About as safe as a walk-in microwave oven.

But at least they're probably full of shit.

[LifeDuringWartime]

16. no, theyre probably not full of shit!

remember the sound energy beam weapon they sold to NYPD for the RNC convention?


as far as i know, it was never used.

[DS1]

38. Well, they did give Bush a microphone, and look where we are now

:evilfrown:

[Quetzal]

4. Yes, let us just use Iraquis as test subjects for our new toy we got

they are just "collateral damage"

[matt819]

5. I'm no expert, but it seems to me. . .

that every time some bright light (so to speak) comes up with a new weapon designed to minimize damage to non-combatants, just the opposite happens. And, when all is said and done, it seems to be that the reality is that on the battlefield conventional (albeit sophisticated) weaponry is going to rule the day. And civilians will still be killed.

[babylonsister]

6. Could be sent to Iraq, used

for crowd control, but 'they are very, very close." Doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me, and how much must this little gem cost? I'm all for it if it stops senseless killing, but do not want it directed at likely crowds in the US in the future. And '...very close' suggests to me it's not been developed/tested extensively enough. :wtf:

[alfredo]

7. Coming to a street near you.

I am sure they wouldn't think twice about using it on us.

[Nihil]

25. Correct ... as proven by:

> ... Heal, commander of the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department. A former
> Marine, Heal headed nonlethal-weapons training for the U.S. military
> in Somalia in 1995 and advised Raytheon on the beam's development.

and

> Heal told Bloomberg Business News that Raytheon could expand the
> market by selling a smaller version to law-enforcement agencies.
> The company is working on a smaller, tripod-mounted version for
> police forces

(both from the article)

[alfredo]

40. The US has to have a war every now and then just to have

real life testing of their products. Best to test them on brown people before bring them home for use, or trying to sell them to some dictator.

[peacebird]

48. worry not, grasshopper. the police are benevolent.

> Heal told Bloomberg Business News that Raytheon could expand the
> market by selling a smaller version to law-enforcement agencies.
> The company is working on a smaller, tripod-mounted version for
> police forces

of course they won't abuse it. i mean - it's not like the police would resort to using tasers to restrain a 6 year old american kid, right? or on a 12 year old caught skipping school? right?

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,138488,00.html

[HeeBGBz]

8. Oh like THAT new toy won't be abused

[Minstrel Boy]

9. Americans have become the Martians of the world,

and Iraq its Grover's Mill.

[muriel_volestrangler]

24. Please, surely you mean Iraq is its Horsell Common

http://www.treehouseof66.de/Trivial/Mucke/waroftheworlds/waroftheworlds.html

H.G. Wells set the original in Britain. It looks like it's taken 106 years for his heat ray to be perfected.

[Occulus]

30. Wow.

I wonder if VALVe considered the copyright implications of their "Strider" enemy in Half-Life 2:

[muriel_volestrangler]

35. H.G. Wells died in 1946

so his books are out of European copyright, at least (and I don't think the illustrators for the 1970's album can claim copyright when they're working from the book's descriptions). The inspiration looks fairly clear, though.

[Kelvin Mace]

10. $40 million down the Pentagon rat hole

David Allen
www.thoughtcrimes.org

[Alpharetta]

11. Raytheon's marketing approach

off their webpage comes these gems:

"Bringing home the promise of missile defense"
-- maybe they'll also bring home the heat ray

"Knowledge is power"

"Raytheon launches 'Operation Freedom Calls'"

----------------

You know in "Total Recall" when Schwarzenegger was one of the freedom fighters against the corporate government which used constant surveillance and all kinds of weapons against the population? It was just a movie.

[shraby]

12. Wouldn't the shiny side of tin foil deflect the heat ? n/t

[Minstrel Boy]

13. actually, I believe so

I knew if I kept it on long enough, it would come back in fashion. :tinfoilhat:

[gordianot]

26. They can also melt that tin foil hat.

[Jose Diablo]

33. If you doubt that tinfoil will reflect microwaves

try this, place some aluminum foil in a microwave, place the energy output on high and set the timer for 1 minute.

You know, one kilowatt of work energy doesn't sound like much, nor does the mechanical equivalent of 1 1/3 horsepower, but believe me, horses are powerful animals.

All sorts of interesting things will happen. Think of it as an experiment by that guy that used to be on TV, Mr. Wizard.

Have fun kiddies. Tell your parents that Mr. Diablo told you to do this. :)

[gordianot]

36. It can melt metal.

I now avoid this hobby proceed with real caution replicate what others do. You can fry out TV's far and wide if not careful. A friend of mine (not me) used to play with magnetrons out of microwaves. I had (now that it is melted) a 20 lbs magnet from an airplane I got when I was 12. My friend who survived this stunt hooked it up to High voltage for the fun of it (he is an engineer). It melted metal. They may be talking about some high voltage not just micro waves. For the ultimate nutcases who play with this follow this link:

http://www.americanantigravity.com/

They also suggest extreme caution. Look at section on Hutchison Effect melting and changing metal at room temperature. This is cutting edge technology some have known about for decades.

[oneighty]

31. Yes.

A properly shaped mirror might further concentrate the rays and reflect them back to the point of origin. Checkmate!

Zaaaaaap!

180

[frylock]

14. i don't know what y'all expected..

after all, part of this whole fiasco is to show off all our shiny, new hi-tek weapons.

If you think that bushwar I™ was actually about saving Kuwait, I have a bitchin' bridge for sale. Gulf I was all about showcasing our kewl stealth technology. What with the USSR out of the picture, we sorely needed to invent a new enemy.

[eyepaddle]

49. I also think

it was seen as a good chance to get actual combat testing of equipment and doctrines. After decades of war gaming you just really wanna see how your new ideas and toys work.

[gordianot]

15. There were some accounts of the big daddy version has already been used.

Rolled out in the Battle of Baghdad and fried out forces there. More than 1 eyewitness account. I have seen descriptions a couple places on the internet the one that still carries it is a little on the tin hat side. Laser, particle beams, scalar weapons have been around for a long time. I suspect they are talking about something really weird like a portable scalar weapon.

If they would invest 1/2 the money on similar technology for energy production we would be able to abandon wars for oil forever.

[bhikkhu]

17. Probably been tested in Guantanamo

Imagine how effective during a run-of-the-mill interrogation of a prisoner chained to the floor. Another innovative American product hits the market.

[Guarionex]

18. These weapons have only one reason for development...

TO CONTROL...the enemy...and to control DOMESTIC enemies...

First Iraq...then U.S. streets and public rallies of dissent...

I'm seriously thinking that this time around, the world will not survive the crisises that will occur.

this ain't the Cuban Missile Crisis...this is for real...we are going to have more war, more civil conflict, fascist U.S., and world massacres..

Scary shit.

[gordianot]

19. Look up Scalar Weapons on a google search.

That is what they are talking about. It sounds like Sci-Fi but it is real. Far easier to use than Nuclear Weapons and can be as deadly.

This is only a tip of the iceberg it is more than rumor.

[Lindsey]

20. Could someone please tell me what Raytheons stock was

before the war, during the war, and what it is now? It's important that I know and I don't know how to get this info.Thanks!

[gordianot]

29. You may also want to look at Westinghouse.

In 2002 a Tom Beardon was given a U.S Patent for a motionless electromagnetic generator but some of the circuits are owned by others. Westinghouse discovered this effect as a byproduct from some circuits in the Minuteman program (creates what some call zero point energy from space). A lot of this technology goes back to Nikoli Telsa in the 1930's and there is older technology. There was never an adequate Quantum Physics explanation on how this works until recently. The awful part is this would create virtually free energy at the same time it also has some drastic military applications (why we never see it). Contact Tom Beardon on his website he might be able to help you out. His site is a little weird but he did get a major Patent. Total crackpots do not get these types of patents.

Would not be surprised if Raytheon was also involved in some way. Telsa was talking about this during WWII, and had a working model.

[leesa]

21. God bless American ingenuity!

[ConsAreLiars]

22. Weapons of Mass Torture - now available - buy now

These monsters are sadists of the worst sort. They lack even the mere vestige of a conscience and their lust for dominance is unrestrained.

[Kablooie]

23. When will it be available at Sharper Image? ...

I have an unruly three year old at home and need something to discipline him with.

[Nihil]

27. Three points of major concern for me:

> The energy penetrates less than 1/64 of an inch into the skin ...

Skin is far less susceptible to injury by heating than the eye.
It would be agonising (and possibly permanently damaging) if the
beam was played onto the subjects face ... something that is almost
inevitable due to beam spread during propagation on the ranges that
they are considering.

> ... the sensation ceases when the target moves out of the beam.

This would be all fine & dandy for a static "fence"-like weapon but
not too brilliant for a mobile, steerable device ... that the operator
can - and WILL - keep trained on the "offenders".

> The weapon could be used for crowd control and is effective beyond
> the range of bullets fired by small arms, Karcher said.
> The effective range of an AK-47 assault rifle is as far as 273
> yards, while an M16A2 rifle has a range of 400 meters.

Whilst I don't want to get into an argument about the classification
of AK-47s or M16s as "small arms", my concern is that if the heat-ray
has an effective range exceeding 400m (i.e., still heats painfully at
that distance), the inverse square law suggests that you'd be fucking
near toasted at close range!

By "non-lethal" are they just relying on the medical stats on the
survivability of third degree burns?

Nihil

[ArkDem]

28. A bullet would be much healthier for the victim.

[donkeyotay]

39. Real world logic would sound an alarm bell here

> ... the sensation ceases when the target moves out of the beam.

This would be all fine & dandy for a static "fence"-like weapon but
not too brilliant for a mobile, steerable device ... that the operator
can - and WILL - keep trained on the "offenders".

...

Wouldn't you love to be at the front of that crowd being controlled. so what happens if the "target" can't move. Frys them?

[ArkDem]

41. I know this:

I don't want to be on the receiving end of a 5.56 or 7.62 military round. The bullet is also pretty 'steerable' but the 'sensation' doesn't cease after it arrives unless you are dead or unconscious, of course.

[donkeyotay]

42. It might be preferrable for war. I was thinking of crowd control

especially here at home. Kent State was bad enough, but toasting protestors because they couldn't get out of the way? By making less-lethal weapons, they're making using them more thinkable.

[Nihil]

43. It's easy to tell who are the anti-Bush protesters ...

... they're the ones with the white sticks ...

If it gets to the point that crowd control involves bullets, you're
already screwed. My concern was the use of this on innocent civilians.

With regard to Iraq, you are probably right: not enough people in the
US give a shit about troops shooting unarmed civilians so they may as
well test any of the new toys before using them on "real" people ...

:wtf:

[immoderate]

45. Inverse square law doesn't apply to a focused beam.

Like a laser. Inv-sq describes energy that radiates as a spherical wave front.

--IMM

[Nihil]

46. Every answer leads to a further question

I didn't note the original article saying it was a laser so I would
assume that it isn't (press releases like buzzwords).

If this is a focused beam rather than a masked beam then is the defence
to move towards the generator then? (i.e., as you then move within the
focal range, you reduce the peak intensity at the cost of increasing
the effective target area?)

Actually, the more I think about this, the less appealing it seems ...
I can't see a weapon of the sort to be operated by squaddies and cops
to be too technical so any varying focus would have to be automatic
(comparable to using an AF camera rather than manual SLR) so it would
track in to the nearest object in the field of view. Not only would
you still be in the "hot spot" (literally) but the intensity would be
growing (albeit not in an inverse square relationship).

Still means that close-range usage will be significantly more dangerous
than medium to long range.

Time to break out the mirror-lens glasses and use the metallised foil
"emergency blanket" material for a safety layer under the outer
clothing.

Nihil

[immoderate]

47. Maybe it's collimated

Each good term deserves another.

I agree that we don't have enough technical information. I also concur that the important issue here is who it will be aimed at (us?)

I'm with you in thinking we need a shield.

--IMM

[Guarionex]

32. Why can't these Christian fascists

die of bacteria....

Oh sorry...heat weapon...warfare...I thought it was War of the Worlds.

[LakeCohoon]

34. Could Be A Good Thing

If it helps to protect civilians and our troops, it’s a good thing.

As far as the enemy goes, turn it up!

[qs04]

44. The enemy being whom exactly?

The people responsible for tens of thousands and possibly more than one-hundred thousand dead civilians in a country which was no threat? Or the people who just want their country back?

[gandalf]

37. The ideal weapon against these longhaired Attac freaks

If it had only been availabe in Seattle and Genua!

(note the sarcasm)