March 2, 2001
Associated Press
WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Pentagon on Thursday unveiled a new "non-lethal" weapon
designed to drive off an adversary with an energy beam that inflicts pain without causing
lasting harm.
The weapon could be used for riot control and peacekeeping missions when deadly force is
not necessary, officials said.
The weapon, called "active denial technology," was developed by Air Force
research laboratories in New Mexico and Texas as part of a multi-service program run by
the Marine Corps.
"This revolutionary force-protection technology gives U.S. service members an
alternative to using deadly force," said Marine Corps Col. George P. Fenton, director
of the program at Quantico, Virginia.
The weapon is designed to stop people by firing millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy in
a beam that quickly heats up the surface of the victim's skin. Within seconds the person
feels pain that officials said is similar to touching a hot light bulb.
Like being burned
"It's the kind of pain you would feel if you were being burned," said Rich
Garcia, a spokesman for the Air Force Research Laboratory at Kirtland Air Force Base, New
Mexico. "It's just not intense enough to cause any damage."
The Pentagon has made a strong push to develop "non-lethal" weapons in the
aftermath of a humanitarian mission in Somalia in 1992-93 that put soldiers in the line of
fire in urban areas where civilians were present.
A prototype of the weapon will be tested on goats and humans at Kirtland in the next few
months, Garcia said.
"When it penetrates in, it activates the pain sensors, and you feel a lot of
pain," Garcia said. "But there's no damage. It truly is a non-lethal
device."
The Marine Corps said $40 million was spent developing the weapon during the past decade.
The Marine Corps plans to mount the microwave weapon on top of Humvees, the Jeep-like
vehicles used by both the Marines and the Army. Later it might be used on aircraft and
ships, officials said.
The weapon could be fielded by 2009, officials said.
Concerns remain
William Arkin, senior military adviser to Human Rights Watch, questioned whether a pain
weapon would be safe to use against civilians in combat situations.
"What about children in the crowd? What about pregnant women and the elderly?"
he said.
"We have developed a nonlethal weapon which causes pain. What happens when someone
continues to walk toward the source of the high-power microwave? What happens when panic
ensues in a crowd as a result of high-power microwave? What happens when it's focused on
someone's eye?" Arkin said.