Active Denial System
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Image:Prototype Active Denial Vehicle.gif
The Active Denial System (ADS) is a non-lethal directed-energy weapon system under development by the U.S. military. It is a microwave laser.
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Operation
The ADS works by directing electromagnetic radiation at a frequency of 95 GHz toward the subjects. This frequency means the radiation is in the microwave region of the electromagnetic spectrum. In comparison, a standard microwave oven cooks food with about 2.4 GHz waves, so the ADS's radiation is more energetic, but much less prone to penetrate skin — the military says the effect "penetrates the skin to a depth of less than 1/64 of an inch." The focused beam can be directed at targets at a range of one kilometer.
The energy in the waves turns to heat upon skin contact and immediately heats water molecules in the skin to around 55 C (130 degrees Fahrenheit), causing an intensely painful burning sensation. A spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory described his experience as a test subject for the system: "For the first millisecond, it just felt like the skin was warming up. Then it got warmer and warmer and you felt like it was on fire.... As soon as you're away from that beam your skin returns to normal and there is no pain."
Military researchers claim that the system causes no long-term damage and the Department of Defense hopes to use it to avoid killing rioters or insurgents. The leader of the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate currently administering the program says the system falls somewhere "between bullets and a bullhorn" — designed to force people to back down without the complications of killing them and bystanders. Proponents of the system hope to arm troops "with a nonlethal capability in military operations other than war" — citing, for instance, peacekeeping and crowd control operations. For example, the beam could be focused on a street or other critical area, and the pain would cause rioters to flee from that area.
Testing
Documents requested by Edward Hammond, director of the U.S. Sunshine Project, and released in July 2005 list specifics of testing that occurred in 2003 and 2004 at Kirtland Air Force Base in Albuquerque, New Mexico. There were three sequential experiments described in the documents, using volunteers to measure pain levels. According to the experiments, the weapon causes pain within two to three seconds and becomes intolerable within five seconds. It is believed that even in uncontrolled conditions, the targets' reflexes will cause them to rapidly move away from the beam.
The experiments took several precautions for the safety of the volunteers. In all experiments, the volunteers were not allowed to wear glasses or contact lenses, due to concerns about possible eye damage. Additionally, after the first experiment, volunteers were checked for metal objects, such as keys and coins, as well as certain zippers, buttons, and seams, in order to avoid "hot spots" that could be created by these objects on the skin of the participants.
In a test conducted before the three experiments described, one of the participants suffered a burn due to the weapon being set to the wrong power level.
Deployment
The Pentagon has installed the non-lethal high-powered microwave weapon on a military vehicle. Project Sheriff was an effort to provide some 15 ADS-Equipped vehicles to troops in Iraq by the end of 2005. U.S. Marines and police are both working on portable versions.
Timetable
- 22 September 2004 Raytheon was granted an FCC license to demonstrate the technology to "law enforcement, military and security organizations." [1]
- 2006 Planned deployment in Iraq of a vehicle-mounted version of the weapon named Sheriff. [2]
Controversy
While the effects of this range of radiation have been studied by the military for years, and the official position is that it is safe, the studies have not been released publically. Despite testing on volunteers, the possibility of damage to tissues other than skin, such as eyes, is still present. Controversy as to the methodology of testing in which volunteers were asked to remove glasses and contact lenses and metallic objects that could cause hot spots has raised concerns as to the range of effects in a threat situation [3]. There is no definitive answer on whether it will be possible to raise the 'beam' power output to the point where it will inflict severe and instantaneous burns on its targets. Although it's certain to run afoul of international conventions on warfare, such weapon could be very effective against human targets and un-shielded electronic devices, making it attractive to nations who are willing to disregard the said conventions.
The military flatly says the Active Denial System "is absolutely not designed or intended or built" for torture and have extensively checked that the system is within the bounds of U.S. and international law. Nonetheless, activist groups protest that the ADS would be a very effective torture device, citing the Abu Ghraib prison scandal as an instance of illegal but apparently unchecked abuse. The Center for Torture Victims argues that the technology and lack of control would make abuse likely, intended or not.
Contracts
On October 4 2004 the DOD published the following contract information: [4]
"Communications and Power Industries (CPI), Palto Alto, Calif., is being awarded a $6,377,762 costs-reimbursement, cost-plus fixed-price contract. The contractor shall design, build, test, and delivery a two to 2.5 megawatt, high efficiency, continuous wave (CW) 95 gigahertz millimeter wave source system. The contractor shall perform extensive modeling, simulation, experiments, and testing to the maximum capabilities of their facilities (which shall no less than one megawatt peak RF output) that will ascertain the final CW capabilities of the source. The contractor also shall provide input for the requirements for the government’s test stand, which will serve as a full power facility in the future. At this time, $900,000 of the funds has been obliged. This work will be complete by January 2009. Negotiations were completed September 2004. The Air Force Research Laboratory, Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico, is the contracting activity (FA9451-04-C-0298)."
See also
- Directed Energy Weapons
- Particle beams
- Lasers
- Death rays
- Radiation
- Long range acoustic device
- Area denial weapons, to prevent from occupying or traversing an area
Sources
- U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s Directed Energy Directorate
- GlobalSecurity.org Global Security Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System (V-MADS) "Countermeasures against the weapon could be quite straightforward — for example covering up the body with thick clothes or carrying a metallic sheet — or even a trash can lid — as a shield or reflector. Also unclear is how the active-denial technology would work in rainy, foggy or sea-spray conditions where the beam's energy could be absorbed by water in the atmosphere."
- AP report August 16 2004
- Why-war September 22 2004 "On Sept. 22, 2004, Thomas J. Fagan, an employee at Raytheon, was granted an FCC license"
- Defense Tech November 16 2004 "AFRL handed Palo Alto's Communications & Power Industries a four year, $7 million contract, according to the Hilltop Times — the in-house paper of Hill Air Force Base. "Dr. Diana Loree, the project officer for Active Denial, said four AFRL directorates are involved in developing this airborne capability: directed energy here; propulsion and vehicles at Wright Patterson Air Force Base, Ohio; and human effectiveness at Brooks City-Base, Texas. Experts from directed energy, as the lead directorate, focuses on the systems engineering and radiating system development, she said. Propulsion directorate experts focus on the airborne power generation and conditioning required for the radiating system. Vehicles directorate scientists and engineers put their efforts toward Active Denial's thermal management and aircraft integration issues while human effectiveness experts focus on biological effects research."
- World Tribune February 3 2005 "New non-lethal weapon lets troops dispell hostile crowds"
- New Scientist July 23 2005 "Details of US microwave-weapon tests revealed"de:Active Denial System