Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Wed, 06 Dec 2006 09:18:27 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

David Hambling at Wired - the U.S. military intends to begin using the Air Force's Active Denial System (ADS) a "non-lethal" millimeter wave weapon that causes people to leave to avoid the intense pain it creates. Gizmodo has a photo. [wired]

The beam produces what experimenters call the "Goodbye effect," or "prompt and highly motivated escape behavior." In human tests, most subjects reached their pain threshold within 3 seconds, and none of the subjects could endure more than 5 seconds.

"It will repel you," one test subject said. "If hit by the beam, you will move out of it -- reflexively and quickly. You for sure will not be eager to experience it again."

But while subjects may feel like they have sustained serious burns, the documents claim effects are not long-lasting. At most, "some volunteers who tolerate the heat may experience prolonged redness or even small blisters," the Air Force experiments concluded.

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