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Exposed: The Military’s Freakiest ‘Non-Lethal’ Weapon Ideas
Tasers that elicit excruciating spasms in one person at a time? Foam pellets that send an entire crowd fleeing in agony? Pfft. So 2011. Where non-lethal weapons are concerned, the future’s all about sonic microwaves that can make swimmers puke mid-stroke, and aircraft with laser beams that can redirect an entire enemy plane mid-flight.
The military’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate’s “Non-Lethal Weapons Reference Book,” leaked online last week by PublicIntelligence.org, is a terrifying treasure trove that describes dozens of ways — some already in-use, others in development or still mere fantasy — for military and law enforcement officials to make you wish they were using the real bullets. (photo: US Army) Or, at least, those are the deepest, darkest wishes of the Pentagon agency responsible for non-lethal weapons.
The military’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate’s “Non-Lethal Weapons Reference Book,” leaked online last week by PublicIntelligence.org, is a terrifying treasure trove that describes dozens of ways — some already in-use, others in development or still mere fantasy — for military and law enforcement officials to make you wish they were using the real bullets.
A total of 14 weapons, according to the reference book, are currently being fielded. Some of ‘em, you’ve heard of. Good old tasers, which the guide helpfully reminds us “can penetrate 2 inches of clothing” in order to “totally disable an individual,” and guns that shoot 600 rubber pellets filled with pepper spray to keep rowdy crowds — already used by law enforcement officials, sometimes with very lethal results — subdued.
Most of the guide, however, offers a sneak peak at the military’s dream non-lethal arms cache.
47 Comments so far
Show AllI think the outrage against "non-lethal" weapons is misplaced. It ought to be directed at the military using ANY violence at all. When it comes down to it, I pray that my kid gets tasered 1000 times rather than being shot once. "non-lethal" doesn't mean not dangerous, but if there is violence, I would prefer my kid survive it.
does your kid deserve it???
Oh, come now vdb, you know our government would never use such weapons on its own citizens if they didn't deserve it...
… and of course, they've built-in an automatic disabling of even non-lethality, if the target is the spawn of repuke'lickans.
I expect they do sense and do keep a database of DNA (certainly pix), and can thereby avoid damaging potential future Presidential candidates.
So John needed worry …
I'd much rather be shot once than tazered a thousand times. In addition to being far less painful the survivability rate is likely higher. The notion that many of these torture devices are "non-lethal" is a big lie all by itself.
Oh yeah, there's the tiny matter OF NOT DESERVING TO GET TAZERED ONCE for being a free human being. Is that where we're at, in the "please just taze me" stage of internalizing the abuse. Incidentally you look at this and I hope people suck their croc tears back in for a cop (possibly) getting stabbed in the hand.
Your kid will die in excruciating agony. With a bullet he will die a quick death....Shady from your thoughts above, it seems you are a masochist that loves torture.....
Your kid is grateful for your fatherly concern.
Read the report, notice how many of this little shop of horrors are expected to be operational in "FY2012". Perhaps this is what they have been waiting for.
Do download and peruse the PDF. It is really sobering. Not that I haven't seen most of these devices written up before, I have. It is just that seeing them gathered here in one document, one after another, they have a sickening feel which just grows as you read. You begin to get a feel for the people designing these devices and how they must really be licking their lips (figuratively) as they invent new devices for combat against democratic crowds.
A couple items in particular seemed to stand out:
1 - How remorselessly each item was illustrated in what I can only see as "yeah hoo!" enthusiasm from people who just want to beat heads in or otherwise put it to anyone they get the chance to hurt. So much more fun than the best times blowing up tin cans.
2 - again and again the the item "Policy Implications:" was "none" apparently they could care less about how implementation of these weapons affects policy.
3 - again and again under "Concept of Employment" It listed "Force protection, crowd control, ..., ..." (the boldface is my emphasis)
So, crowds are now to be combat targets to be hit with these weapons
Then there are the small-pellet exploding weapons:
1 - a Claymore mine: "The MCCM has the same dimensions as a standard Claymore Mine (8”X1.3”X3”) and weighs ~ 6 lbs. Each MCCM contains 600, 0.32 Caliber Neoprene Rubber Balls held together in a Gelatin.Effective range is between 5-15 m."
2 - a hand grenade (called a "Stingball Grenade) with "at least 100 rubber pellets, and a rubber grenade body"
With the Claymore it notes: "Collateral Damage: Potential for significant injury if engaged between 0-5 m."
On the grenade it notes: "Collateral Damage: Potential for significant injury if the grenade detonates at face level."
Remember the times we kids were warned about a mere BB gun's ability to put out eyes? These things will put out a lot of eyes. It is only a matter of time. Other devices, green lasers, for example have potential to cause blindness if used too close (the too close range is within 65 meters, more than 200 feet [213.25]). Some devices can damage your hearing. Who is so naive to believe that these things will be used in any "safe" manner or distance? These people are practically wetting their pants for the chance to use them on people.
In other words our government agencies are going to war against their own population (us) with a scare, hurt and maim, maybe a few kills, damage for life, set of weapons. And you can just tell they are jumping up and down in excitement for the chance to use it on use, all of these toys. We are the new disposable people (like a matching set to go along with brown, yellow or just plain over their "insurgents"), the term is "civilians."
DreamDancer: Thank you for the elaboration.
What I find mind-blowing is the reality that these weapons are being produced "hot off the press" just in time to "tame" the inevitable crowds that will gather as Unemployment Benefits, Social Security, Medicare, and other "entitlements" are cut... all the while new wars are introduced like products, AND, that awful Keystone Pipeline (the one James Hansen defines as "game over for mankind") gets underway.--------------------------------------------------------------- They say "Timing is everything."
Yes, and the NDAA "Police State" bill has been signed into law.
There is money and sadism in causing pain. Otherwise they would just spray their enemy du jour with LSD. It could be the best thing for their enemy and themselves.
"outrage against "non-lethal" weapons is misplaced. It ought to be directed at the military using ANY violence at all."
"little shop of horrors "
So, you object to the military having lethal weapons, and you object to them having non-lethal weapons. IOW, you simply object to the military existing at all.
Figures.
PJM. I don't see any foreign invasion any time soon; not sure who would invade.
In conflicts on foreign soil we generally use lethal weapons. You really think crowd control would be considered in Afghanistan or Iran? No, PJM, those weapons are for American citizens. Unarmed American citizens.
Our self-imposed ROE ( Rules of Engagement ) in battle zones and foreign countries are ALWAYS structered around 'minimum use of force', even in full-out ' incoming fire !' situations. Our troops can't even fight back without getting a long-distnace lawyer's permission as to exactly what force they are and are not allowed to use.
Yes, 'crowd control' and 'winning hearts and minds' is a HUGE par of our efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. I'm not supporting our being there in the first place, that's a different discussion, but 'minimum use of force' is a constant concern, and decisional factor. Yes, applicable LTL / NL weapons would be well received and used.
And BTW, you may not have heard of Posse Comitatus. The military can not be used on American soil except in very limited roles ( rescue and assistance, etc ). Yes, the technologies will filter down to police use,and even private citizen use. Look for example at the Rodney King riots. What would you like the police role to be ? Hide, like they did ? Was that protecting the citizens of the area ? If not, then what would you like to see them use to control the violence ? STICKS ? AR-15's ? Or something inbetween, that accomplishes the goal of restoring order with less potential harm to people ?
Posse Comitatus? you could not have heard of NDAA.
PJM. Winning hearts and minds in Iraq and Afghanistan? Are you paying attention, PJM, or just waving a flag?
I'm certain now, that you are protecting your bread and butter with these posts.
And your post is so full of inaccuracies, it is as if you have been under a rock for the last 20 years. These technologies might "filter" down to the police? Oh that's not so bad. Sounds so delicious. All impurities filtered out!
Meanwhile, the police, through the DHS, are acquiring MORE of these technologies to ADD to their EXISTING stockpiles. Sound cannons, included. But I'm certain that you don't have the imagination, or the accordant conviction, to be concerned about the absolute assault on the First Amendment's freedom of assembly protections, that use of these mass torture instruments would pose.
Keep on apologizing for your bloody industry, but it won't work here. Why waste your keystrokes?
Greetings from Planet Earth. I have no idea what planet this came from, but it is clearly not the one I live on. Of all the stupid anti-nonlethal weapons articles I've seen, and there are many of them, this one takes the cake. The comments are not far behind. Guess you folks must love nukes. They'll certainly get the job done. After all, vaporization would involve minimum pain.
Get serious. People do bad things, and we are no where near a Utopian society. Guess the guy who talks about "unarmed civilians" is totally unaware of the Second Amendment and the consternation and ongoing debate. Also not aware of the increase in deaths of law enforcement officers from attacks (not traffic) in the past two years.
The bottom line is "Compared to what?" When you've done something stupid/illegal, would you rather be shoot by a Taser/beanbag round/pepper spray or or 10mm Black Talon?
Joihn A. I would prefer not to get shot by anyone with anything for exercising my right of assembly and peaceful protest. I am not sure if you pay attention, John, but law enforcement personnel don''t always shoot the bad guys. They do a good job protecting the 1%, however.
Oh please stop. That insidiously stupid meme, in defense of this emergent Torture State's toys, isn't going to fly here at CD, so why waste your time?
Go away.
I followed a few links and got to a video of the pain-ray in action:
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2010/07/pain-ray-recalled-from-afghanistan/
The enthusiastic Dr. Susan LeVine provides the commentary. Some piece of work, the lovely Dr. Susan.
The youngster in army uniform who's operating the pain-ray looks just old enough to have made it into grade 11. The brass sure knows how to pick them, a pain-ray operator with lots of video game experience.
Here's what can happen with 'routine' police equipment - some hand-held teargas, knives, and batons :
You'll see it's not the weaponry, it's the people using it. The Chinese didn't need any hi-tech weapons to do this, did they ?
AFP) — Hundreds of Muslims fought with armed police who demolished a mosque in north China, local police and a human rights group said on Monday, with several people injured in the “riot”.
The violence between local Muslims and roughly 1,000 armed police began after police declared illegal a newly renovated mosque in the Ningxia Hui Autonomous Region and moved to destroy it, the Information Center for Human Rights and Democracy, in Hong Kong, said.
The Hui are one of several Muslim minority groups in China.
Two people were killed and 50 injured after police fired tear gas and used knives and batons to beat back ethnic Hui Muslim protesters in Taoshan village, Hexi township, the rights group said, citing villagers.
I see a pattern PJM. All of your posts dismiss any uproar about these weapons. My guess, is that you are deep in some dark corner of the beast, protecting your feeding line.
My guess is that any time someone disagrees wtih you, and makes points you can't refute, you hide behind insane accusations retrieved from your nether regions.
Oh gosh PJM, that was a good one!
Most of the armed police in Ningxia-hui are also Muslims, so there's no point trying to imply a religious conflict. Secondly, though the Chinese government had designated the Huis as a "minority" the majority of them are actually converted Hans which formed the majority group in China. Huis too - under this "minority" classification - number slightly over half of all Muslim groups in China. Since most are Han converts, their native tongue is Mandarin, though many today also learn Arabic and some did intermarry with other ethnic groups. A lot of conflict in China today has to do with class: the local corrupt officials often took the law into their own hands when it comes to land grabs, under the excuse of "development projects" and so on. Just some weeks ago, a Guangdong village decided to protest en masse against the local crooks, and though the government claimed that all is calm now, it's the national system of privileging the rich and the connected that is causing conflicts all over China. This is what happens when the country turned capitalistic - though the powers-that-be still insist they're "socialists."
Back to the argument over weapons: no knives or small pistols can rival the deadly arsenal of the US imperialists in terms of widespread destruction and carnage: such weapons do not slaughter tens or hundreds at a time, unlike the US cluster bombs in Iraq, or continue to kill thousands of future generations of civilians like the use of Agent Orange and napalm bombing in Vietnam. At present, depleted uranium is also giving cancer to thousands upon thousands of Iraqis, most of them civilians. And the drones are killing the Afghans more efficiently than all the armed police are capable of anywhere in China. American propagandists often like to minimize the number of deaths caused by their wanton slaughter of people they dislike, whether they're black or brown or yellow peoples. Yet the lowest figure for such murders is probably not less than over a hundred million over the centuries - not counting murders caused during wartime such as the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. The best way to estimate the extent of genocides is by noting the ultimate result: A moderately populated continent - at least over 10 million Natives - like North America has today less than a million Native Americans, and many of them today are not even pure-bred. Worse, as George Means revealed a couple of years ago when he declared Independence for the Lakota Indians, the average life expectancy of his people is about 35 years - much worse than most or ALL less-developed countries. (India has reached about 65 years today - something that China achieved during the 1970s. Today's average life expectancy in China is about 73 years).
And we've not even talked about the disappearance of the aborigines in Australia (an estimated 99% exterminated, or the much diminished Maoris of Australia). But at least blatant lynchings of natives Down Under had largely stopped after the 1950s, unlike the fate of American Blacks who were descendents of former slaves ferried over the Atlantic like animals (journeys that caused the deaths of anything from 20 million to 80 million blacks, depending on who's writing the history).
Non-lethal, a euphemism no different or misleading than this old chestnut from the near past, "smart-bomb", a weapon itself implying seamless, explosive precision against an enemy and of course safety for the innocent bystander. Yet in reality, and on the ground, an indiscriminate weapon, destroying beyond its bounds, and with ruthless, thorough efficiency. Likewise, for these hi-tech herding tools, such as the Taser which has and continues to leave collateral damage, where ever it goes, and among some who only wanted to raise their voice in protest. Regardless, there is a pressing question, perhaps even a salient threat presented by these tools, when used to control the public's space, and especially urgent, the question as to how far this is all going to go.
Before 'smart bombs', if we decided to take out let's say a given factory, arms depot, nuclear facility, whatever, we had to send waves of hundreds of bombers, dropping tens of thousands of bombs, in hopes of hitting it. Now we send and drop maybe 4 or 5 much smaller bombs. Yes, there are still civilian casualties etc. But far far fewer than before.
Nothing about the word 'bomb' implies 'safety', smart or otherwise. They have a nasty habit of blowing up. And nothing about LTL / NL weapons implies 'no one gtes hurt'. The word 'weapon' is pretty much a dead ( pun intended ) giveaway. Waepons are , by definition, intended to hurt things. A baseball bat is just a bat, until it is swung at your head, then it's a 'weapon'. A gun can either protect you, or be used to harm you. Don't blame the inanimate object, be it bomb, smart bomb, taser, gun, or stick, for the actions of people which you disagree with.
I also don't want to blame inanimate objects, PJM; but we don't use our tax dollars to buy baseball bats. The MIC develops weapons for wealth and power not to secure the homeland. When was the last war of necessity? The five permanent members of the UN Security Council are the fiver top arms dealers. Of course, we lead the way. We're number one! Sounds like your portfolio includes US Savings Bombs.
You'd be suprised how many of our tax dollars are invested in baseball bats ;-)
However, they make rather poor weapons, compared to other tools.
Yes, the biggest countries are the biggest in everything. What's your point ?
Thank you for imitating the other idiot and making ludicrous flatulent accusations when you actually have nothing to say.
Tell us - what weapons IOW tools ( if any ) do you feel our military should have ? This is not a question about 'when is war justified' or 'is America an evil world dicator' etc. JUst : if you grant that we need a military (do you ? ), what tools should it have in the toolbox of war ? Only those that are limited to 'kill or don't use it' ? Or perhaps others that at least attempt to 'stop without killing' ?
PJM. "What weapons do you think the military should have?" How about spears, slingshots and arrows. Maybe we wouldn't kill so many people in our never ending quest for power and wealth. Costa Rica does fine without an army. The military, if you have knowledge of any of our recent and not so recent conflicts, is a tool of power. A tool used by the happy couple, Big Gov and Big Corp, to rule the willing, hapless population. "Is America an evil world dictator?" You might ask the Muslim women in refugee camps forced to sell themselves and their daughters to white capitalists, in order to survive. War is failure, on all levels of humanity. Oh, and ,by the way, Benito Mussolini had a term for the happy couple mentioned above.
Philiphoko wrote:
"Is America an evil world dictator?" You might ask the Muslim women in refugee camps forced to sell themselves and their daughters to white capitalists, in order to survive."<<<<<<
Touche! Philiphoko! And also the millions of brown people who perished because of the 50 or so American invasions/interventions in Latin America since WW2 alone. For more views on American interventions or invasions, click http://killinghope.org/bblum6/aer39.htm
and http://www.countercurrents.org/lucas240407.htm
Look at that, millions with health insurance, millions hovering near the poverty lines, hundreds of thousands without jobs, even more without homes. Forget all that, we have the leanest, meanest, military war machine in the world. A toast to all the defense contractors who pour billions of dollars into our electoral system, they are well rewarded with their multimillion dollar contracts. The rest of us can all go to hell.
SV - as is not uncommon, you conflate the entire spectrum of current social issues with whatever the actual topic at hand may be, and then use that arsenal in support of whatever point you think you're making ( which you did not actually make ).
SV is voicing something called righteous indignation.
And to the substance of her point, it is absolutely true, and exceedingly worthy to note, the vast expenditure of money for the military, juxtaposed against the unmet social needs of US citizens. Also worthy to note, as SV did, is the disproportional representation the MIC enjoys, and how unjust that is.
So what was your point?
"SV is voicing something called righteous indignation."
No, it's mere flatulence.
Any time your argument is based on 'Well, Johnny has one, so I should have one too', you lose.
You should read the book "Making Apt Analogies for Dummies", though I doubt that even that will help you.
Could it really get any worse? Forget I asked that.
Appears just right for distributing across America to make sure the one percent and the tea party are protected, Bloomberg probably will be the first to get his share. But they do this in the name of GOD, then go to church so they'll be OK.
Non Lethal my ass , this microwave energy blaster can fry you from the inside. If you are in your bedroom and you wake up arms and legs flailing , body all heated up, heart pounding, and then you move out of your bedroom into another room , and all symptoms stop, you are being blasted with micro wave energy, designed to kill you slowly night by night. You are being targeted by the United Gang Stalking Stasi, and one of your neighbors has the equipment setup and aimed at your bedroom.This is portable military grade mk-ultra torture equipment. Then as your health and your sanity start to deteriorate , the community watch gang stalking fusion center stasi are put on alert and are told you are a criminal,or pedophile, or a very unstable dangerous person. The gang stalking stasi try to make your free movements a living nightmare, they are being trained to become torture freaks and they dont even know it, they think they are patriotic heroes. Welcome to the Unites Stasi of America, I have been stalked 24/7 for 5 years, and know what I am talking about.
"Then as your health and your sanity start to deteriorate "
You appear to have a head start on the latter, as you show below :
"the community watch gang stalking fusion center stasi are put on alert and are told you are a criminal,or pedophile, or a very unstable dangerous person. The gang stalking stasi try to make your free movements a living nightmare, they are being trained to become torture freaks and they dont even know it, they think they are patriotic heroes. Welcome to the Unites Stasi of America, I have been stalked 24/7 for 5 years, and know what I am talking about. "
Get professional help. Now.
If so, perhaps you'd be wise to invest in installing an electronic Faraday cage (http://bit.ly/JYcZX), around your bed ? Using a space blanket, and being completely inside of that shielding layer, would be an effective and cheap solution.
Don't you think that your being SO convinced that the "United Gang Stalking Stasi" is actually "kill[ing] you slowly night by night," is deserving of some sort of outside or impartial testing ?
Microwave oven technologies would cook our insides, because they would excite our water molecules from the inside out. But because area denial systems operate at 100 times that frequency, those effects are therefore restricted to shallow but external skin NERVE sensations of heating and burning -- as they're essentially much like IR space heaters (but having even longer wavelengths).
* * *
Hopefully, a little humor might lead and enable you to see and perceive something else ?
If it continues after that, perhaps they've implanted transmitters, inside your bedroom or the bed itself ?
Aren't there a couple of movies where unhinged folks pull out all of their teeth, mistakenly thinking the govt has installed devices inside their own bodies ? In "12 Monkeys," the guy was right, and his bosses from the future were unable to ever find him again ; - )
Can you not see that they've got you torturing yourself ?
* * *
I feel compassion for your perturbed state, … assuming that your postings are sincere and that your intent is to inform and not to increase fear mongering paranoia …, as I sometimes feel a bit similarly so.
I don't doubt that vengeful despots and their apparachiks do torture, invalidate, and disenfranchise some pivotal and/or potentially powerful citizens, and I have a suspicion that folks are being black-balled for having anti-govt views about 911 -- but considering such likely, having occurred to others, or possible, and being absolutely convinced of the specific personal truth of such -- is evidence of quite different mental states.
Of course, even if you do seriously consider my prophylactic advice to build yourself a personal Faraday cage to sleep within, afterwards you could just conclude that the end of your symptoms -- might be because they were watching you very closely -- and just turned off the beams.
If I were you, having the possibility of peaceful nights sleeping, would be well worth any cost.
Why exactly, do you think that they have such a vehement desire to harm you ?
Every age has its Shakespeare. This is where our creativity and money go. So twisted. Imagine what could be done if we applied this level of innovation to things like city planning, clean energy, medical care and creating economic opportunity for useful purposes.
Reading of the treatment of "political Prisoners" in various gulags, I imagine life in a concentration camp will be rather grim. I imagine some offshoot of Blackwater, et al, will have the subcontract for guarding/running the camps, and look at all the toys they will have to play with!
I guess you could call that playing to (or with) a captive audience.
Just more instruments to use to keep status quo the way it is.
If protesters where ever to commandeer the non-lethal weapons and use them against these aggressors attacking them, the thump therapy squads will likely have no problem breaking out the real weapons.
Wait till they start testing them all on Americans. And let's not forget to thank out Nobel Peace Prize laureate president who has surpassed all 8 years of Bush in military spending (according to a report released yesterday). I can't wait to see what he'll do over the next 4 years.