THE US army plans to protect its helicopters with a laser weapon designed to dazzle anyone attempting to shoot at them from the ground. But the development has prompted concerns over whether such lasers could cause permanent blindness.
The device, called Aircraft Countermeasures (ACCM), consists of a laser that can be mounted alongside other weapons to protect the helicopter from small-arms and machine-gun fire without using lethal force. Small-arms fire is an increasing threat to helicopters, and the US army recently reintroduced door gunner training for the first time since the Vietnam war, using a new virtual-reality training system. But existing electronic countermeasures only protect against guided missiles.
The ACCM is being developed at Kirtland Air Force Base in New Mexico by ScorpWorks, the Air Force Research Laboratory鈥檚 tactical laser prototyping team. In 2004 the team tested a laser dazzler against a shooter firing a simulated rifle at ranges of 100 metres and 340 metres and it significantly reduced the number of bullets that hit the target by creating a glare that disrupted their sight. ScorpWorks then built a prototype ACCM, and trials of the weapon have shown it to be 鈥渆xtremely effective鈥�, the team says. The device is capable of both pulsed and continuous operation.
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The 1995 Protocol IV addition to the Geneva Convention bans blinding laser devices, and has also limited the development of dazzle weapons because it has been interpreted as requiring such weapons to be 鈥渆ye-safe鈥� at the aperture of the laser. However, the US air force legal office has advised that a dazzler can be deemed acceptable as long as it is eye-safe at the target distance.
鈥淸ACCM] would not necessarily be eye-safe at close distances,鈥� says Thomas Wegner of ScorpWorks, but he adds that the technology is still under review.
The International Committee of the Red Cross has been active in the debate over blinding lasers. Peter Herby, head of the Mine-Arms Unit in the ICRC鈥檚 legal division in Geneva, Switzerland, says the protocol specifies that 鈥渁ll feasible precautions鈥� should be taken to prevent laser weapons from blinding. But he says that if a laser has variable power settings, the user might select the highest power available. 鈥淲hat are the precautions to prevent this from happening? How do you control the dose? You cannot expect the operator on the spot to make this judgement.鈥�
鈥淭he Geneva Convention requires dazzle weapons to be eye-safe鈥�
The air force hopes that by equipping helicopters with the ACCM alongside lethal firearms, the weapon may help deter attackers by alerting them that they are in the gunner鈥檚 sights. It could also protect police and aid agency helicopters from gunfire, Wegner says.
