It's not all fun and scifi, but here is a peek at a possible future of weaponry:
Pentagon Looks to Directed-Energy Weapons
Sun Aug 1, 3:39 PM ET
By MICHAEL P. REGAN, AP Business Writer
Read the whole story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...energy_weapons
or
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040801_866.html
Pentagon Looks to Directed-Energy Weapons
Sun Aug 1, 3:39 PM ET
By MICHAEL P. REGAN, AP Business Writer
Read the whole story:
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...energy_weapons
or
http://abcnews.go.com/wire/US/ap20040801_866.html
A few months from now, Peter Anthony Schlesinger hopes to zap a laser beam at a couple of chickens or other animals 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.
**snip snip snip**
Aside from paralyzing potential attackers or noncombatants 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.
**snip snip snip**
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 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 our intent."
**snip snip snip**
**snip snip snip**
Aside from paralyzing potential attackers or noncombatants 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.
**snip snip snip**
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 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 our intent."
**snip snip snip**
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