by professorpan » Wed Jul 13, 2005 4:32 pm
Hmmm... creates intense pain, leaves no marks...<br><br>--<br><br>Weapon goes for maximum pain<br><br><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK START--><a href="http://www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_science/article/0,2668,ALBQ_21236_3918643,00.html">www.abqtrib.com/albq/nw_s...43,00.html</a><!--EZCODE AUTOLINK END--><br><br>An ultraviolet beam targets the top layer of skin without doing damage.<br><br>By Sue Vorenberg<br>Tribune Reporter<br>July 11, 2005<br><br>Rich Garcia is proud of his two-second record.<br><br>That's how long the test subject, a Kirtland Air Force Research Laboratory spokesman, lasted when an ultraviolet beam boiled the water molecules in the top 1/64th layer of his skin.<br><br>It's not the top time - that's more like three seconds - but it was a good record for withstanding the pain of a new nonlethal weapon being developed by his lab, the Department of Defense, Raytheon and Sandia National Laboratories, Garcia said.<br><br>"It's excruciating," Garcia said. "For a moment you feel heat; then it gets unbearably hot. I did it four times. The first time, I jumped out of the beam almost immediately, but then I thought to myself, `You wimp. It doesn't damage the skin.' So on the second, third and fourth time, I lasted a little longer. The fourth was my record: two seconds. Nobody made it past three."<br><br>The weapon, cryptically called the Active Denial System, beams ultraviolet waves at a target, penetrating only the top layer of skin, which conveniently houses most of the body's pain receptors, said Steve Scott, a Sandia engineer.<br><br>"It's been described to me as wrapping your body around a hot light bulb," Scott said. "The reaction is very similar to the involuntary response you have when you touch a hot object. You want to get out of the beam fast."<br><br>It leaves no permanent skin damage, and the pain goes away almost immediately after the subject steps out of the beam, Scott said.<br><br>The advantage to the system over other nonlethal weapons is that its beam can travel much farther than conventional rubber bullets, pepper spray or Taser.<br><br>"Other nonlethal technologies have limited range," Scott said. "With this, you can go hundreds of meters, compared to sprays and things like that where you have to be very close."<br><br>The range is also farther than small guns can fire, so police departments could use it to zap a criminal while keeping officers out of the range of the criminal's weapon, Garcia said.<br><br>"Rubber bullets statistically cause one death for every 5,000 uses, and depending on the size of the person they're used on, the effectiveness varies," Garcia said. "The Air Force has tested this on a variety of subjects, and the result is the same across age, height and body mass. And you could use it on both hostile enemies and captives or friendlies to stop a situation, because it leaves no permanent damage."<br><br>Kirtland Air Force Research Laboratory developed the technology to focus and send the beam into the air. Its partner lab at Brooks City-Base in San Antonio, Texas, did the human and animal testing.<br><br>Both labs, along with Sandia and Raytheon, are tweaking the technology before it is transferred out of the labs to police forces or to the military, Garcia and Scott said.<br><br>They didn't have a price tag but acknowledged that small-town police departments probably wouldn't be able to afford the system.<br><br>"We've developed the technology for the Air Force, and the military will decide what to do with it," Garcia said. "We just put it on a Humvee, and the services are playing with that right now. Of course, the more we think about it, the more uses we think up for it."<br><br>Another suggested use would be keeping a constant beam on the end of airplane runways to discourage birds from flying into planes, Garcia said.<br><br>And Sandia is modifying and miniaturizing it to work with security sensors and equipment at critical facilities, such as nuclear plants or weapons areas, Scott said.<br><br>"Our interest is in smaller devices that can target individuals who try to break through security systems," Scott said. "What would happen is a sensor would get triggered and turn on the beam, forcing the subject to run the other way."<br><br>Those systems should be ready to go at several DOE nuclear facilities by 2008, said Michael Padilla, a Sandia spokesman.<br><br>"This is an exciting technology," Scott said. "It's very effective. It works on 100 percent of the population, and we think it can help reduce risks to officers and soldiers."<br><br> <p></p><i></i>
