Fwd. Sweeping Stun Guns to Target Crowds

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Wed, 23 Jun 2004 06:42:39 -0400

Sweeping Stun Guns to Target Crowds

 

 

It just keeps gettin' better.

 

Source:

New Scientist.com

http://www.newscientist.com/

 

Sweeping stun guns to target crowds

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99996014

 

16 June 04

By David Hambling

 

Weapons that can incapacitate crowds of people by sweeping a

lightning-like beam of electricity across them are being readied for

sale to military and police forces in the US and Europe.

 

At present, commercial stun guns target one person at a time, and work

only at close quarters. The new breed of non-lethal weapons can be used

on many people at once and operate over far greater distances.

 

But human rights groups are appalled by the fact that no independent

safety tests have been carried out, and by their potential for

indiscriminate use.

 

[chart graph]

http://www.newscientist.com/data/images/ns/9999/99996014F1thumb.JPG

Taser success rates by distance

 

The weapons are designed to address the perceived shortcomings of the

Taser, the electric-shock gun already used by 4000 police departments in

the US and undergoing trials with some police forces in the UK.

 

It hits the victim with two darts that trail current-carrying wires,

which limit its range to a maximum of seven metres (see graphic). As a

single shot, short-range weapon, the Taser is of little use in crowd

control. And Tasers have no effect on vehicles.

 

Ionised gas

 

These limitations are beginning to be overcome. Engineers working for

the US Department of Defense's research division, DARPA, and defence

companies in Europe have been working out how to create an electrically

conductive path between a gun and a target without using wires.

 

A weapon under development by Rheinmetall, based in Dorf, Germany,

creates a conducting channel by using a small explosive charge to squirt

a stream of tiny conductive fibres through the air at the victim (New

Scientist print edition, 24 May 2003).

 

Meanwhile, Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), based in Anderson,

Indiana, will be one of the first companies to market another type of

wireless weapon. Instead of using fibres, the $9000 Close Quarters Shock

Rifle projects an ionised gas, or plasma, towards the target, producing

a conducting channel. It will also interfere with electronic ignition

systems and stop vehicles.

 

" We will be able to fire a stream of electricity like water out of a

hose at one or many targets in a single sweep, " claims XADS president

Peter Bitar.

 

Solid-state lasers

 

The gun has been designed for the US Marine Corps to use for crowd

control and security purposes and is due out in 2005. It is based on

early, unwieldy technology and has a range of only three metres, but an

operator can debilitate multiple targets by sweeping it across them for

" as long as there is an input power source, " says Bitar.

 

XADS is also planning a more advanced weapon which it hopes will have a

range of 100 metres or more. Instead of firing ionised gas, it will

probably use a powerful laser to ionise the air itself. The idea has

been around for decades, says LaVerne Schlie, a laser expert at the US

Air Force Research Lab in Kirtland, New Mexico. It has only become

practical with advances in high-power solid-state lasers.

 

" Before, it took a laser about the size of two trucks, " says Schlie.

" Now we can do it with something that fits on a tabletop. "

 

The laser pulse must be very intense, but can be brief. So the makers of

the weapons plan to use a UV laser to fire a 5-joule pulse lasting just

0.4 picoseconds - equating to a momentary power of more than 10 million

megawatts.

 

This intense pulse - which is said not to harm the eyes - ionises the

air, producing long, thread-like filaments of glowing plasma that can be

sustained by repeating the pulse every few milliseconds. This plasma

channel is then used to deliver a shock to the victims similar to a

Taser's 50,000-volt, 26-watt shock.

 

Instrument of torture

 

HSV Technologies of San Diego, California is also working on stun and

vehicle-stopping shock weapons with ranges of over 100 metres. And

another company, Ionatron of Tuscon, Arizona, is due to supply a

prototype wireless vehicle-mounted weapon to the US Department of

Defense by the end of 2004.

 

But the advent of wireless stun weapons has horrified human rights

groups. Robin Coupland of the Red Cross says they risk becoming a new

instrument of torture. And Brian Wood of Amnesty International says the

long-range stun guns could " inflict pain and other suffering on innocent

bystanders " .

 

And there are safety concerns. Of the 30,000 times US police officers

have fired Tasers, in 40 instances people stunned by them later died.

The deaths have been attributed to factors such as overdoses of drugs

and alcohol, or fighting with officers, rather than the electric shock.

 

In a statement, Taser International chief Rick Smith said: " In every

single case the medical examiner has attributed the direct cause of

death to causes other than the Taser. " Amnesty is not convinced,

however, and wants an independent study of the effects of all existing

and emerging electric-shock weapons.

 

Related Stories

 

Electric shock weapons could go wireless - 21 May 2003

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993749

 

Non-lethal landmine zaps intruders with 50,000 volts - 23 April 2003

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99993650

 

United Airlines installs stun guns - 16 November 2001

http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991579

 

For more related stories search the print edition Archive

http://archive.newscientist.com/

 

 

Weblinks

 

Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems

http://www.xtremeads.com/

 

HSV Technologies

http://www.hsvt.org/

 

DARPA

http://www.darpa.mil/

 

US Air force Research Lab

http://www.afrl.af.mil/

 

Taser International

http://www.taser.com/