Airman burned in Ga. ray-gun test
MOODY AIR FORCE BASE - An airman suffered second-degree burns during an evaluation of a non-lethal heat-ray gun this week in south Georgia, officials said.
The injured airman was taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta after the incident Wednesday. He was not identified.
Second-degree burns can cause pain and superficial blisters. Burn Center spokeswoman Beth Frits said the airman was in good condition and expected to be released Friday.
He is a member of the 820th Security Forces Group, based at Moody Air Force Base, near Valdosta, which is evaluating the space-age weapon, known as the Active Denial System.
It fires an electromagnetic beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire.
Apart from creating a terrifying sensation, the technology is supposed to be a harmless, non-lethal way to disrupt riots or persuade enemies to drop their weapons.
The 820th, which has had numerous missions to Afghanistan and Iraq, will evaluate the system for about a year, but the weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010.
During the first media demonstration in January at the base, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios that U.S. troops might encounter in war zones.
The device's two-man crew located their targets through telephoto lenses and fired beams from more than 500 yards away - nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.
The weapon uses millimeter wave technology, which is supposed to penetrate no deeper than 1-64th of an inch of skin, causing discomfort but no injuries.
During its 12 years of development, the Active Denial System has been tested on more than 600 volunteers with more than 10,400 exposures and only one other injury - a second-degree burn - requiring medical attention, officials said.
Sarah Fullwood, spokeswoman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at Quantico, Va., said the incident at Moody is being investigated and the evaluation has been put on hold until that is completed.
http://tinyurl.com/2dhezk
The injured airman was taken to the Joseph M. Still Burn Center at Doctors Hospital in Augusta after the incident Wednesday. He was not identified.
Second-degree burns can cause pain and superficial blisters. Burn Center spokeswoman Beth Frits said the airman was in good condition and expected to be released Friday.
He is a member of the 820th Security Forces Group, based at Moody Air Force Base, near Valdosta, which is evaluating the space-age weapon, known as the Active Denial System.
It fires an electromagnetic beam that makes people feel as if they are about to catch fire.
Apart from creating a terrifying sensation, the technology is supposed to be a harmless, non-lethal way to disrupt riots or persuade enemies to drop their weapons.
The 820th, which has had numerous missions to Afghanistan and Iraq, will evaluate the system for about a year, but the weapon is not expected to go into production until at least 2010.
During the first media demonstration in January at the base, airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee at people pretending to be rioters and acting out other scenarios that U.S. troops might encounter in war zones.
The device's two-man crew located their targets through telephoto lenses and fired beams from more than 500 yards away - nearly 17 times the range of existing non-lethal weapons, such as rubber bullets.
The weapon uses millimeter wave technology, which is supposed to penetrate no deeper than 1-64th of an inch of skin, causing discomfort but no injuries.
During its 12 years of development, the Active Denial System has been tested on more than 600 volunteers with more than 10,400 exposures and only one other injury - a second-degree burn - requiring medical attention, officials said.
Sarah Fullwood, spokeswoman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate at Quantico, Va., said the incident at Moody is being investigated and the evaluation has been put on hold until that is completed.
http://tinyurl.com/2dhezk
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Anything that makes you "feel like you're about to catch fire" is likely about to put you on fire.
Idiots...0 -
...well, the test was a success!...it obviously works...[;)]
...now to deploy it to Iraq, and set up shops offering free suntans to the locals...[;)][^]
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1.5 billion $ heat lamp[:D] 0 -
ya think when they thought of putting gunpowder in a barrel and shooting a ball out of it, they tried it on somebody first?
>>bang<< OUCH!!0 -
Do you think they thought of taking the 2A away from the public before or after the dreamed this up? 0 -
Only an SP would volunteer for that test. 0 -
Screw the fence, lets put a few of those on the border facing mexico!
[:D][:D]0 -
quote:Originally posted by ljwrench
Only an SP would volunteer for that test.
+10 -
I thought the Air Force gave up testing weapons on airmen after the messy affair in the 60's with the AR-15. [:0][:p]
Well, I guess roasting his nuts will keep him from breeding anyway.[:o)]0 -
So if we took a bunch of microwave doors and duct taped them to a piece of plywood...would it protect ya?
Would a satellite dish be able to reflect back the microwaves they beem at you??0 -
Oh, like THAT'S anything new [:(!] 0 -
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qr3qJ0racd0
if you want to see one!!!0 -
and a reporter takes a hit http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RewekVjO52M&mode=related&search=0 -
Twenty years from now they will be making a movie about this incident. They'll probably use some nameless studio in SanDiego. ANyway, the plot will be some poor shmuck got sterilized and his nuts roasted by a cruel government microwave test. OR The guy is given a choice, Minot or microwave testing.
Mean government testing on helpless Airman.0 -
quote:Originally posted by ljwrench
Only an SP would volunteer for that test.
AINT THAT THE TRUTH!!0 -
I saw just last week on futureweapons, them giving a test of this unit using the host and how they could pinpoint the beam to hit a specific individual stnading side by side at 500M and they said it was not microwave energy, any of you minds of minolta out there have a clue what kind of energy makes up the beam.
Shades of flash Gordon.
I agree with SG Niner, except they should use microwave energy at the border so that it would fry the nuts and sterilize every bean bandit that crosses the border, that would be progress0 -
thanks spider.......anybody remember the philedelphia experiment (weird music time)...remember when the USA goes to war or tries to protect our borders----we don't want to HURT ANYONE 0 -
Typical - the Gubberment's taking all the fun out of an old fashioned riot! Pretty soon you won't recognize the fun loving Old America anymore. Burning down cities will truly be a thing of the past![:o)] 0 -
They had a riot once at Southern Illinois University back in '69. They burned down a big old building called Old Main. It was replaced by a "riot proof" building big long all cement, no drywall, just cement. Nothing to tear apart or burn. You can't walk from one end of the building to the other on the same floor. Then too make things worse, it's backwards. The north end should have been the south end. It's a monumental example of governmental incompetence.
I think most every University needs one of these microwaves - for homeland security.0 -
quote:Originally posted by FrancF
1.5 billion $ heat lamp[:D]
Why not just use our existing Micro-Wave Ray guns on low power setting?0 -
So if we took a bunch of microwave doors and duct taped them to a piece of plywood...would it protect ya?
yes.
Would a satellite dish be able to reflect back the microwaves they beem at you??
no. it would focus the rays at its focal point. but as long as you stay behind it, at least you won't get zapped.
any kind of metal should reflect the rays, just like you can't put metal in your microwave because it'll reflect the rays and ruin your microwave oven.
if you had some kind of suit made out of metal fibers, that should work also, because the microwaves can't penetrate between the fibers because the wavelength isn't small enough- that's how it is that the door on your microwave has all those little holes all over it to see in. IF the holes were larger, the microwaves would get out. see? so a woven metallic suit should work.0 -
Wallie draw us a picture of a guy shooting at someone with a modified Miniwave from a microwave! 0 -
quote:
any kind of metal should reflect the rays, just like you can't put metal in your microwave because it'll reflect the rays and ruin your microwave oven.
if you had some kind of suit made out of metal fibers, that should work also, because the microwaves can't penetrate between the fibers because the wavelength isn't small enough- that's how it is that the door on your microwave has all those little holes all over it to see in. IF the holes were larger, the microwaves would get out. see? so a woven metallic suit should work.
So my tinfoil hat is still a useful defense!! Swwwweeeeeet. How about SPF45? [8D]0 -
WTH, ever happened to the good old fashion firehose and tear-gas method of diffusing riots. When I was in the Navy in Groton, CT, everytime they would launch a new sub from EB downriver, the greenies would come out of the woodwork. So, we always had a special watch posted topside with 2-1/2" firehoses. It is amazing to see what one will do to a Zodiac (flip it in a hurry) or when it hits someone full force in the chest! 0 -
For controlling unruly crowds (riots?) I still like the old fashioned practice of using mounted police and/or a 2" or 3" firehose hooked up to a Ward LaFrance pumper, even better if it's hooked up to a hydrant. Horses have a unique way of getting people out of their way without violence. And no one - absolutely no one - can stand up on his or her two feet, let alone do anything when that hi-pressure blast of water hits. Plus, the volume of water tends to make the victim a little short of breath, further incapacitating him or her. And, afterwards, the guilty rioters got a whole lot wet and a little dirty. No one loses an eye, gets burned, gets killed, shot, etc. 0 -
the weapon isnt supposed to be COMPLETELY safe, but rather "mostly non lethal". Also, everyones body is different and what might not cause a burn on one person will cause a slight burn on another. 0 -
range. you can't squirt a firehose 500 meters.
it is microvave energy. they said what the wavelength was, somewhere around 3000 KHz. that's microwave.
it will harm you, whatever it does to your skin it will also do to your eyes. at least it will burn them just like the rest of your skin; I don't know for sure, but with 1/64" penetration it still may be able to turn your cornea opaque. that is, blind you.
hhmm... microwave-absorbing/reflecting suntan lotion. good idea, but if it absorbs it and heats up, what's the point? also, it won't protect your eyes. need some MW-reflective sunglasses.
if you lob some kind of paint onto its reflector dish to make it nonreflective to MW, it couldn't reflect and focus the beam, so it would be rendered useless.0 -
So, judging from my experience with microwave ovens, a $2.00 roll of aluminum foil will defeat this billion dollar weapon. 0 -
it should! 0 -
quote:
range. you can't squirt a firehose 500 meters.
My earlier reference was specifically to crowd control or riots. Who'd be firing water at an unruly crowd from over 1500' away?[:0] Up close and personal usually works better for the purposes I alluded to.0
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