The rise of humans from
fearful creatures huddled around cave fires to the dominant species on the
planet largely parallels the evolution of weaponry. Different subgroups rose
and fell, spreading their culture or declining in influence as they either
came up with the new best thing with which to slaughter their neighbors or
fell behind in the innovation game.
Club, axe, spear, atlatl,
sword, longbow, crossbow, catapult, gun, bomb, artillery, really big bomb—all
have had their day.
We even delineate
historical epochs by naming them after the dominant weapon technology of the
time: Stone, Bronze, Iron, and the modern era, which might accurately be
termed the Gunpowder Age.
Over time, the one
constant has been to invent a technology that conferred an advantage on the
user in battle—or else served as protection against what the other guy had.
And the reason for wielding any given weapon has always been to maim or,
preferably, kill one's adversary. Before one got one's own self killed, of
course.
And Then, Someone Had a Whole New Idea
The concept of a weapon
that is designed merely to temporarily incapacitate, with little or no
lasting injury, is relatively new.
In a way, the development
of nonlethal weaponry (NLW) can be seen as an inevitable byproduct of the
rise of democracy in the world. In nations ruled by autocracies of one kind
or another, the citizenry must be kept in line with ruthless efficiency. Not
even the smallest challenges to the established authority structure can be
ignored. Critics are hunted down, jailed, tortured, murdered, dumped into
mass graves.
Where power is (at least
theoretically) vested in the people, on the other hand, dissent is generally
tolerated, even encouraged. Killing one's countrymen, even if they are
political opponents, is considered really bad form. There are laws against
it. And elected officials hesitate to raise too heavy a hand, lest they
alienate constituents, get voted out, and be stripped of their power and all
those nice perks of office.
But this doesn't mean
that there is no demand for crowd control. It remains just as much a
necessity. Groups of citizens may be allowed to gather and raise their
collective voice in protest, but they are not allowed to stage assaults on
the people's representatives.
At the same time, policing
has undergone significant change. Hanging alleged wrongdoers on the spot is
no longer sanctioned. "Wanted Dead or Alive" posters have
disappeared. Cops carry guns that are supposed to be used for defensive
purposes only. In general, law enforcement officers are expected to arrest
suspects and convey them to a holding cell while causing minimum physical
damage.
Mobs, however, can become
unruly and refuse orders to disperse. A hardened criminal confronted by
police may not be inclined to go quietly. The state and its appointed
protectors need ways of dealing with such problems: ways that try to avoid
death or serious injury to citizens who, malefactors though they may be,
still retain certain basic rights.
There are warfare
applications as well. As Wikipedia puts it, nonlethal weaponry may be used
"in combat situations to limit the escalation of conflict where
employment of lethal force is prohibited or undesirable, where rules of
engagement require minimum casualties, or where policy restricts the use of
conventional force." One might also add "the need to conserve
resources" and "the desire to spare the environment" to that
list.
With a wide-ranging
potential market up for grabs, technology specialists were bound to invent
devices to fill every conceivable niche. Thus the advent of nonlethal weapons
was a given.
First on the Scene: Gas
Originally developed as
killing agents in World War I, deadly gases evolved into nonlethal versions,
such as tear gas, a generic term applied to about 15
different aerosols, but primarily either CN or CS, with the latter being the
most popular nowadays. The effects of tear gas range from mild tearing of the
eyes to more serious reactions.
CN is somewhat more toxic
than CS, but it was the first to market. The US Army's Chemical Warfare
Service promoted it for civilian use after World War I, and by the mid-1920s
it was a common weapon in police arsenals. CN endures to the present in
personal canisters as Mace, a trade name turned generic, although it has
largely been replaced in pockets and purses by the more-popular pepper sprays
containing capsaicin, ultimately derived from chilis.
While CS, CN, and pepper
spray are all considered NLWs, there is no question that they can cause
serious injury and, under certain circumstances, death. CN can damage the
cornea and has been implicated in deaths from pulmonary damage and/or
asphyxia. CS can also cause pulmonary problems and, according to the Journal
of the American Medical Association, can significantly damage the heart
and liver. Pepper spray, widely considered the most "humane"
alternative can, according to a report from the North Carolina Department of
Health, cause responses including "burning of the throat, wheezing, dry
cough, shortness of breath, gagging, gasping, inability to breathe or speak
(due to laryngospasm or laryngeal paralysis), and, rarely, cyanosis, apnea,
and respiratory arrest."
Enter the EMIs
Next on the scene came
the electromuscular incapacitation devices, or EMIs, of which the most
well-known is the TASER®.
The modern Taser arrived
with a patent filed by inventor John Cover in 1974. Although most people
probably think the term is a scientific acronym, along the lines of
"laser," it isn't. Cover playfully named his new device after one
of his fictional childhood heroes: the Thomas A Swift Electrical
Rifle, and in his patent application described it thusly:
"A weapon for
subduing and restraining includes a harmless projectile that is connected by
means of a relatively fine, conductive wire to a launcher which contains an
electrical power supply. The projectile is intended to contact a living
target without serious trauma and to deliver an electric charge thereto
sufficient to immobilize."
We can accept that Cover
was well intentioned, but as with other NLWs, the Taser's capacity for
inflicting "serious trauma" (and possibly death) on the recipient
can no longer be questioned.
At the same time as the
first Taser was rolled out, R&D was under way on a wide variety of pocket
stun guns, stun flashlights, and stun batons that were put to police use by
the late 1980s and eventually came to be marketed to the public for personal
self-defense in close-quarters situations.
Today, a small unit like
the one below can easily be purchased online. This particular model features
a handy pin at the base that pulls out and renders the gun useless should
your opponent wrestle it away from you.
Handheld devices operate
on the same principle as the Taser, i.e., they deliver a
high-voltage, low-amperage shock to the system that causes disruption of
muscular control. Stun guns are offered with up to 5 million volts of power
and, though that may sound like enough to wipe out an entire gang of bad
guys, it's the amperage that really matters. Just 0.06 of an amp (i.e.,
60 milliamps) is sufficient to cause death in many cases, so these devices
are typically calibrated to single-digit milliamperages, which should
incapacitate without killing.
A stun gun's
effectiveness in an actual life-and-death situation is at least questionable.
Unlike the Taser, it doesn't operate at a safe distance from the threat. In
addition, the longer the arc between the electrical contact points, the
greater the effect. That gives Tasers another advantage, in that their
projectiles spread out before hitting the target and will typically drop the
assailant to the ground since the current is moving over a larger muscle
area. Because of stun guns' smaller arcs, they can require several seconds of
contact before the effects kick in, and that might be too long.
Manufacturers, however, tout their products by saying that the pain of the
initial contact, or merely flashing that electric arc, will cause an attacker
to back away from you (um, well, maybe it will—but that isn't likely if he
has a firearm).
Since the Taser acronym
contains the word "rifle," it was only a matter of time before a
weapon would be developed that truly fit the name. That time has come. Taser
International has introduced its XREP model, which allows for delivery of the
shock device at long distance.
Despite the easy
availability of EMIs, their legal status must always be considered. They are
banned for private use in many countries, and either banned or restricted in
nine US states and a half-dozen cities and counties. Be aware of your local
regs.
And no NLW has come under
as much criticism as EMIs, mainly because they are not always nonlethal. In
one case that received national attention, a Vermont state trooper used a
Taser to kill an unarmed, 39-year-old epileptic man in June of 2012.
With death always a
possibility, one would think that Tasers would not be employed lightly. But
because they are regarded as usually harmless, that has hardly proven to be
the case.
Coherent Light: Tech Moves Beyond Gas and Shock
As electrical
incapacitation devices were being produced, there was no lack of research in
other areas. The Early History of "Non-Lethal" Weapons, a
2006 paper from the University of Bradford, UK, notes that by the late 1970s,
most varieties of the NLWs we know today had already been conceived. Many
were in use, being tested, or under development, including:
- Kinetic NLWs: Water cannons and
projectiles (in use); nets (available, not in use)
- Electrical: Stun guns and TASERS (in
use); wireless electric weapons (proposed)
- Chemical: Tear gases and smokes (in
use); lubricants and aqueous foams (available, not in use); sticky foams
and malodorants (in R&D)
- Biological: Incapacitating bacteria,
viruses, and toxins (available but banned by the 1972 Biological and
Toxin Weapons Convention)
- Optical: Flash-bang grenades and
high-intensity lights (in limited use); stroboscopic lights (in R&D)
- Acoustic: Audible sound generators (in
limited use); ultrasound/infrasound generators (in R&D)
- Directed energy:
Laser and microwave devices (in R&D); vortex generators (proposed).
Although there have been
a number of innovations since then, most of what's been accomplished has to
do with refining the product.
Laser weapons, for
example, are well out of the R&D stage, despite the fact that their use
was banned on the battlefield by the 1995 Vienna Conventional Weapons
Convention. The US was a signatory to that protocol.
Nevertheless, we now have
various "dazzlers" that operate in either the red or—primarily
because it works better in daylight—the green areas of the spectrum. Their
purpose, according to the Department of Defense's Non-Lethal Weapons
Reference Book: "Force protection, entry control points,
checkpoints, and maritime ports and security zones to warn, deny, move, and
suppress (e.g., distract, disorient, and degrade) individuals on
foot and those operating vehicles/vessels."
Dazzlers are designed to
emit coherent light beams that are less tight than with conventional lasers,
in order not to cause permanent eye damage. There are a large number
of models; one is the PHaSR or Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response
rifle, which was developed in-house by the US Department of Defense.
Another, the Glare Mout, is a green laser that spreads to
a larger spot at the intended target, making aiming the device at long
distances or at multiple subjects much easier. The Glare Mout's effective
range is 150 meters to 2 kilometers. Of course, you don't want to use it at
close range, i.e., within the NOHD (that's bureaucratese for the
"nominal ocular hazard distance"). That would cause permanent
blindness, and the Glare Mout's range finder thus has a precautionary,
automatic shutoff at 65 meters.
The StunRay is an optical incapacitation effector
developed by Genesis Illumination that uses collimated (slightly less than
laser) broad-spectrum visible and near-infrared light from a short-arc lamp
to safely and temporarily impair vision, disorient, and incapacitate
aggressors for 5 seconds to 3 minutes without causing physical harm.
The Saber 203 dazzler uses a 250 mW red laser diode,
mounted in a hard plastic capsule in the shape of a standard 40 mm grenade,
suitable for being loaded into an M203 grenade launcher. It has an effective
range of 300 meters.
But that's nothing compared with the long-range ocular interruption (LROI)
weapon presently under development by the Navy. That one is projected to be
effective up to 3,000 meters, or nearly two miles.
And so on. There are lots of these things. While dazzlers per se
are prohibited for personal use, green lasers are sold as adjuncts to pistols
and rifles. For aiming purposes only, but…
Optical NLWs are not limited to laser devices, either. There is, for
example, also a weapon called the Dazzler, a very bright, stroboscopic LED
flashlight that causes nausea, dizziness, headache, flash blindness, eye
pain, and sometimes vomiting. The Dazzler was developed for the Department of
Homeland Security, but is expected to be made available to local law
enforcement in the near future. In the meantime, plans for a DIY version can
be found on the Internet.
Can You
HEAR Me Now?
Acoustic weapons have also taken giant strides forward since the '70s,
with the most well known probably being the long-range acoustic device
(LRAD), or "sound cannon." The LRAD broadcasts focused, very loud
sound over longer distances than is possible with normal loudspeaker systems.
It can be used to send messages and warnings, but also to cause extreme pain.
For comparison purposes, normal conversation takes place at about 60
decibels (dB). Depending on the person, the pain threshold for an individual
is about 130 dB. The LRAD's maximum continuous level is 162 dB.
LRADs were originally developed for the military to create safe zones
around naval vessels, but they have become features of many police
departments and some private enterprises, as well. Among the latter is the
cruise ship Seabourn Spirit, which was carrying one when attacked by
pirates off the coast of Somalia in November of 2005. The pirates had machine
guns and RPGs, but the ship was able to repel the assault by turning the LRAD
on them.
An
LRAD was used for the first time domestically to disperse those
protesting at the G20 Summit in Pittsburgh in September of 2009.
One of the problems with the LRAD is that its effects can be permanent. A
woman who was watching the Pittsburgh demonstration suffered "permanent
hearing loss, nausea, pain, and disorientation" from her exposure to the
machine, according to a lawsuit she filed against the city and its police
department. In addition, there's some evidence the LRAD can cause fatal
aneurysms. On the practical side, critics also question the value of an
expensive NLW whose effectiveness can be defeated with earplugs.
A new entry into the acoustic NLW arena is the Inferno Sound Barrier. It
doesn't make people run from it because of loudness—although at 120 dB, it's
pretty darn loud. It repels because the sound it emits combines four
frequencies spread out over 2-5 kHz. Those frequencies mixed together have a
deeply disturbing effect on people, causing them to flee within seconds.
The Inferno, a Swedish import, was originally designed to protect public
buildings, retailers, and boats, but the manufacturer intends to market it to
commercial vehicles like taxis, and to law enforcement for riot control. It's
almost sure to eventually find its way into private residences, as well.
Then, in the "best of both worlds" category, we have the
flashbang or stun grenade, which combines optical and auditory incapacitating
qualities in a nice, compact package. The device was first developed by the
British Army's elite SAS division in the 1960s. Basically, it's a grenade
without the fragmentation, designed to remain intact after detonation, while
releasing all the light and sound of the explosion through holes in its
casing.
The flash part momentarily activates all photoreceptor cells in the eye,
making vision impossible for about five seconds, until the eye resets itself.
The bang part causes temporary loss of hearing and also disturbs the fluid in
the ear, leading to loss of balance.
Flashbang grenades have migrated to police use and have been effective in
hostage situations. Unfortunately, the heat produced by the blast can ignite
combustible materials in the vicinity and lead to deaths, as was the case
with an elderly couple in Minneapolis in 1989, when they were mistakenly
targeted as drug dealers and died in a SWAT assault that caused a
grenade-started fire. The shock from a flashbang has also induced at least
one fatal heart attack.
Flashbangs are normally thrown by hand, but there are other delivery
systems. VENOM (Vehicle Non-Lethal/Tube Launched Munition System) is a 40mm,
multi-shot, electrically actuated grenade launcher mounted to the Marine
Corps Transparent Armored Gun Shield turret. The system consists of three
banks of ten launch tubes, each at fixed angles of 10, 20, and 30 degrees
from horizontal, achieving 360-degree coverage, with a range of 400 feet.
Flashbangs can also be rigged to be delivered as an airburst weapon with an
increased applicability zone.
Also combining optical and acoustic deterrence is the large, vehicle- or
ground-mounted distributed sound and light array (DLSA) system, currently
being prototyped by the military.
Other
Exotica
Another class of NLWs is shock wave generators, intended
simply to knock folks down. The big daddy of these devices—which essentially
direct the shock waves from controlled explosions—is the Thunder Generator,
originally devised by Israeli farmers to scare away birds. But the Israeli
government has an interest in using it for crowd dispersal, since it can
upend people at a distance of up to 100 meters. Problem is, if someone strays
to within 10 meters, he's apt to wind up dead.
A related weapon is the Vortex Ring Gun, which creates
high-energy gas vortices that can be directed at a target to knock it over.
The rings can also be made to carry chemical payloads—such as tear gas,
pepper spray, or nausea-inducing malodorants—that then adhere to the person
struck by them.
Speaking of malodorants, there are many of them, such as
Skunk, used for crowd control by Israeli Defense Forces since 2008. Skunk is
dispersed as a mist fired from a water cannon. It leaves a terrible sewage
odor on whatever it touches and does not wash off easily. A sudden change of
wind direction could be a problem here.
The Mobility
Denial System, also known as "instant banana peel," is a
weapon invented a few years back at the Southwest Research Institute. It
disperses a thick, slippery gel onto asphalt, concrete, wood, and even grass,
making movement impossible without falling down. Vehicles slip and slide as
well. The downside of course is that you can't operate in the treated area
any more than the opposition can.
The Pulsed Energy
Projectile is currently under development by the military. It
involves a weapon emitting an invisible laser pulse that, upon contact with
the target, ablates the surface material and creates a bit of exploding
plasma on the skin. This produces a pressure wave that stuns the target,
knocking him down, as well as electromagnetic radiation that irritates nerve
cells, causing pain.
The military's Active
Denial System (ADS), also known as the pain ray, has gotten a lot of
media attention. This truck-mounted machine, perfected in 2007, beams
electromagnetic radiation—similar to that produced by a microwave oven—at the
target and causes an intense burning sensation. Proponents swear that the ray
only causes the "impression" of burning, because it barely
penetrates the skin—just enough to make your nerve endings think you're on
fire. Demonstrations have been conducted on volunteers, and the principle has
been validated, although field tests remain to be carried out.
The ADS was deployed in
Afghanistan, but it was recalled without having been used. Potential problems
that have been suggested include: ineffectiveness in bad weather; lack of
penetration of thick clothing; and inability to selectively target
individuals in a crowd. But research continues. The Air Force would like to
have an airborne ADS (think drones), but the obstacles are formidable, and
that one is just in the conceptual stage. Smaller, man-portable units may be
closer to reality.
Sticky Foam guns fire a goo that consists of
nontoxic but extremely tacky and/or tenacious materials that solidify when
they hit the target, entangling an individual and impairing movement. The
downside is the possibility of suffocation if the person is hit in the face.
Sticky foam was reportedly used by the Marines as part of an operation in
Somalia.
The Netgun
looks like an oversized flashlight; it fires a net which entangles the
target. A larger version, suitable for use in crowd control, is under
development.
Upon detonation, the Stingball
Grenade propels a cache of 100 tiny rubber balls in a circular
pattern. The Modular Crowd Control Munition (MCCM) is the
Stingball's tightly directed big brother. It's constructed like a Claymore
mine but with 600 rubber balls inside that are sprayed out in a 45-degree
arc.
Nor have swimmers been
forgotten. Future scuba divers bent on attaching mines to ships will meet
resistance in the form of an underwater pulsed sound wave
that is sure to drive them off if they get within 150 meters. It's under
development by the Navy.
Just over the horizon:
Sierra Nevada Corp., working under a US Navy contract, is reportedly ready to
build a microwave ray gun called the MEDUSA (Mob Excess
Deterrent Using Silent Audio). The device fires short microwave pulses that
penetrate the head and rapidly heat tissue, resulting in a shockwave inside
the skull.
Finally, we shouldn't
leave this subject without a quick mention of one of the more whimsical of
recent NLW inventions, the speech jammer gun developed by
some Japanese tinkerers. This device is not intended to incapacitate anyone,
just to shut them up. Effective at up to a hundred feet, you simply aim it at
someone who won't stop talking, and it broadcasts the speaker's own words
back at him with a 0.2-second delay, causing him to become completely
tongue-tied and unable to go on. Poetic justice indeed. Hmmm… We can think of
a whole lot of Washingtonians (DC denizens, not the Pacific Northwest state
citizens) we'd love to try this thing out on.
NLWs: An Ongoing Experiment
As noted at the outset,
NLWs are a recent arrival on the human scene, and we're still experimenting
with the proper ways in which to use them. As a means of responding to
threats from our fellow humans without having to kill them, these weapons are
surely an improvement over brute force. However, there are some issues
involved, and the need to deal with them is extremely important.
[Ed. Note: At the end of
the day, it's important to remember that technology is completely neutral. It
will evolve with no regard to how it is used. To stay abreast of this
evolution and to capitalize on many of the exciting opportunities to come, we
shamelessly recommend taking Casey Extraordinary Technology for one of our famous risk-free
test drives.]