[Previous entry: "Gordon P. on NASA"] [Main Index] [Next entry: "Phyllis Dintenfass"]

07/26/2005 Archived Entry: "Blinding them with our technology"

The Iraqi people are now going to be guinea pigs for 15 new "non-lethal" weapons: the Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System, which blasts 95 GHz microwaves at people in order to heat their skin, thus inflicting pain. You'll note they don't say "non-destructive."

"[H]eating a layer of skin 0.3 mm thick to 50 °C in just one second", as this system does, requires, by my estimate, 1.63 watts per square centimeter. Read on: "A study published last year in the journal Health Physics showed that exposure to 2 watts per square centimeter for three seconds could damage the corneas of rhesus monkeys." The design range of the weapon is 700 yards; victims at half that range will receive approximately four times the power. (Slightly less, because the radiator isn't a point source.)

I guess blinding someone -- quickly or slowly -- is "non-lethal."

brad