RE: Tesla Rifle Article, CNN/AP

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "McCauley, Daniel H" <daniel.h.mccauley-at-lmco-dot-com> 


David,

Thank you for providing me with that article.  I wonder what PETA would
think about this.

Dan



Here's the article:

A few months from now, Peter Anthony Schiesinger hopes to zap a laser
beam
at a couple of chickens or other anmials in a cage a few dozen yards
away.

If all goes as planned, the chickens will be frozen in mid-cluck, their
leg
and wing muscles paralyzed by an electrical charge created by the beam,
even as their heart and lungs function normally.

Among those most interested in the outcome will be officials at the
Pentagon, who hwlped fund Schlesinger's work and are looking at this
type
of device to do a lot more than just zap a chicken.

Devices like these, known as directed-energy weapons, could be used to
fight wars in comming years.

"When you can do things at the speed of light, all sorts of new
capabilities are there," said Delores Etter, a former undersecretary of
defense for science and technology and an advocate of directed-energy
weapons.

Directed energy could bring numerous advantages to the battlefield in
places like Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have had to deal with hostile

but unarmed crowds as well as dangerous insurgents.

Aside from paralyzing potential attackers or noncombatents like a long
range stun gun, directed-energy weapons could fry the electronics of
missiles and roadside bombs, developers say, or even disable a vehicle
in a
high speed chase.

(Note: My 6" coil can stop a Ford Focus at 200' )

The most ambitious program is the Air Force's Airborne Laser, a plan to
mount a lasre on a modified Boeing 747 and use it to shoot down
missiles.

(This is already flying, but don't know how testing is going.)

At the same Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, researchers
working with Raytheon Co. have developed a weapon called the Active
Denial
System, which repels adversaries by heating the water molecules in their

skin with microwave energy.  The pain is so great that people flee
immediately.

( Take apart your microwave!  And don't look down the waveguide with
your
remaining good eye! )

"It feels like your skin is on fire," said Rich Garcia, a spokesman for
the
laboratory who, as a test subject, has felt the Active Denial System's
heat.  "When you get out of the path of the beam, or shut off the beam,
everything goes back to normal.  There's no residual pain."

A Humvee-mounted Active Denial weapon is expected to be given to all
services by the end of this year for evaluation, with a decision about
deployment by the end of 2005.

But the idea of using directed energy against humans is creating debate
fueled by deaths allegedly caused by Taser stun guns and the alleged
abuse
of Iraqi prisoners -- which put the military's respect for human rights
under a microscope.

Some experts believe the use of directed energy will be limited by
international law and treaties.

"Although it seems like it would be more desireable to disable than to
kill
them, the problem is there are all sorts of treaties in place that limit

how you can disable noncombatants," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington

Institute, a defense think tank.  "It's kind of perverse, but sometimes
the
backlog of old laws can get in the way of being humane."

Military officials believe the intended uses of the Active Denial System
do
not violate any international laws or treaties and do not cause any
permanent health problems.

"You can rest assured that with this system, when it finally is
deployed,
we will be very, very clear about what the intended uses are and what is

clearly outside of bounds," said Marine Corps Capt. Daniel McSweeney,
spokesman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.  " It's not
intended to be used as a torture device.  That goes against all the
design
intentions and parameters."

Research into side effects weaponized directed energy began in the late
1990s at the Air Force Brooks City-Base in San Antonio.  Researchers
began
by reviewing studies of radio-frequency energy involved in military
communications, radar and other technologies, officials say.

Human testing of the Active Denial System began after researchers
concluded
it could be used without permanent harm.  More than 200 volunteers --
including some in their 70s -- from various military branches and
government agencies were zapped with the system, on average about three
times each.

The results showed no lingering health problems, officials say.

"This type of device doesn't penetrate very far," said Lt. Col. William
Roach, chief of the radio frequency branch of the Air Force Research
Laboratory.

But the fact that the studies on directed energy's human effects haven't

been released to the public has some outside the government worried.

Dominique Loye of the international Committe of the Red Cross has
pleaded
for more disclosure of directed-energy research and independent
investigation into possible side effects.

Directed energy may cause "new types of injuries we're not aware of and
may
not be capable of taking care of," Loye said.  " the message we try to
put
across is: 'We understand some companies are investing money,  so maybe
it
will be worthwhile for you to start the investigation as early as
possible
and not to invest millions and millions and then 10 years down the line
find out your weapon will be illegal.'"

The weapon's developers, on the other hand, pitch them for their
lifesaving
potential.

The pinpoint accuracy of a laser could eliminate collateral damage
caused
by missile explosions, the argument goes, and stun gun-like weapons
could
save lives in hostage or bomb-threat situations.  Directed energy also
has
the potential to explode roadside bombs or mines from a distance.

"You're dealing with the ability to pre-detonate the majority of
improvised
explosives that are used right now," said Peter Bitar, president of
Xtreme
Alternative Defense Systems, an Anderson, Ind., company that is
developing
a rifle-sized directed-energy gun for the Marines.

The device works by creating an electrical charge through a stream of
ionized gas, or plasma.

Bitar says it could be tuned to target the electronics of a vehicle or
explosive device, or tuned to temporarily paralyze voluntary muscles,
such
as those that control arms and legs.  The involuntary muscles, like the
heart and lungs, operate at a different frequency.

So far, this and a handful of similar weapons are only in the prototype
stage.  Production models, if approved by the military, would not be
ready
for a few years.

The device being developed by Schlesinger's company, HSV Technologies
Inc.
of San Diego, will operate similarly to Bitar's, except the electrical
charge will be created by an ultraviolet laser beam, rather than
plasma.  He, too, says the device is designed for non-lethal purposes
only.

"Later on, as certain agencies or law enforcement gets involved in this,

and they see the need for lethality, I'm sure that can be developed
later,"
Schlesinger said.  "It could induce cardiac arrest, for example.  But
that
is not our patent, and not ouw intent."

Still, that potential is sure to make opponents of directed energy
skeptical.

"It's encouraging that the U.S. is searching for more humane weapons,"
said
the Lexington Institute's Thompson.  "But it's hard to convince other
countries that our goals are ethical."

AP

Well that's the article and what they're up to.

David E Weiss