Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
Active Denial System Heat Ray Warming Up
Raytheon's Active Denial System, a nonlethal microwave energy weapon system, is finally emerging from the shadows. It's not expected to go into production until 2010, but at least the military is providing real pictures (see below) rather than computer graphic representations (see the previous story Active Denial Technology: Directed Energy Weapons).
(Active Denial System)
During a media demonstration of the weapon on January 24th of this year, USAF airmen fired beams from a large dish antenna mounted atop a Humvee. The "rioters" were troops providing a realistic simulation of activities that might be found in war zones.
The two-man crew fired beams at people 500 meters away; this is more than fifteen times the distance at which other non-lethal weapons are usable. Everyone hit by the beam immediately jumped out of its path because of the sudden blast of heat throughout their bodies.
Wade Smith, deputy director of this program for Raytheon, has voluntarily felt the beam during testing. "This is an effect that literally gets under your skin," said Smith, "I can assure you, once you come in contact with the beam, you will be inclined to stop whatever you are doing."
The Active Denial System immediately recalls H.G. Well's 1898 classic War of the Worlds to mind; the Martians used a heat ray against Earth's inhabitants:
Slowly a humped shape rose out of the pit, and the ghost of a beam of light seemed to flicker out from it.Forthwith flashes of actual flame, a bright glare leaping from one to another, sprang from the scattered group of men. It was as if some invisible jet impinged upon them and flashed into white flame. It was as if each man were suddenly and momentarily turned to fire.
(Read more from H.G. Wells' heat ray)
Other nonlethal weapons are currently in development. Read about the Piezer, the Long Range Stunners and the Inertial Capacitive Incapacitor.
See also Active Denial System Has Researchers Worried for more information. Thanks to an anonymous reader who provided the tip; read more here as well as many other places.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/27/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 4 )
Related News Stories - (" Weapon ")
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.' - Philip K. Dick, 1965.
Moscow Attacked By Hundreds Of Drones
'It hurtled on down with inconceivable speed until it was visible as thousands of tiny robot planes...' - Hal K. Wells, 1942.
China's Handheld Electromagnetic Gun
'Completely silent, accurate up to about twenty meters. No recoil...' - Richard Morgan, 2003.
Is The Seattle Ultrasonics C-200 A Heinlein Vibroblade?
'It ain't a vibroblade. It's steel. Messy.' - Robert Heinlein, 1940.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Grok And The City Fathers From 'Cities In Flight' By James Blish
'Chris, the City Fathers are not interested in your welfare; I suppose you know that. They're interested in only one thing: the survival of the city.'
Why Not Move A Warehouse District?
'Did you never see a moving house before?'
Will An AI Found A New Religion?
'You must decide how you will worship Me.'
Terraformer Industries Make Methane
'Drake was the young spatial engineer he employed to terraform the little rock...'
I Need An Outdoor Spherical Display
'Usually a spherical display hovered in the centre...'
Worm Disrupts Physics Simulations Undetected For A Decade
'It diverts integers of the data, the fundamental message-units, so that they no longer agree.'
Muxcard Redditor's DIY Credit Card-Sized Computer
It's a computer, but just barely.
'Soft Assembly' Fashions That Fashion Themselves On The Wearer
'Clothes are no longer made from dead fibers of fixed color and texture that can approximate only crudely to the vagrant human figure...'
Orwell's Nightmare Of AI-Written Novels Comes To Pass
'Books were just a commodity that had to be produced, like jam or bootlaces.'
ISS Plagued By Leak - Again!
'There were perhaps a dozen bladder-like objects in the tunnel...'
Ridiculous 'Ghost Murmur' Tech Still Science Fiction
'...it rears and spreads its fan. It can pick one man out of a crowd.'
Outdoor Video Screens Can Be Arbitrarily Large
The Shape of Things To Come
Infrared Contact Lenses To See In The Dark
'I can see in the dark, Case.'
What'll You Have? Extinct Animals Returned, Or Synthetic Eggshells?
'...a new plastic with the characteristics of an avian eggshell.'
Sunbird Pulsar Fusion Like Leinster's Space Tug
'It was a pushpot, which could not possibly be called a jet plane because it could not possibly fly. Only it did.'
RentAHuman App Lets AI Agents Hire Humans
'She wouldn't stop until Antar had told her everything he knew about whatever it was that she was playing with on her screen.'
