A recently declassified US Army report on the biological effects of non-lethal weapons reveals outlandish plans for 鈥渞ay gun鈥� devices, which would cause artificial fevers or beam voices into people鈥檚 heads.
The report titled 鈥淏ioeffects Of Selected Nonlethal Weapons鈥� was released under the US Freedom of Information Act and is (pdf). The DoD has confirmed to 快猫短视频 that it released the documents, which detail five different 鈥渕aturing non-lethal technologies鈥� using microwaves, lasers and sound.
Released by US Army Intelligence and Security Command at Fort Meade, Maryland, US, the 1998 report gives an overview of what was then the state of the art in directed energy weapons for crowd control and other applications.
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A word in your ear
Some of the technologies are conceptual, such as an electromagnetic pulse that causes a seizure like those experienced by people with epilepsy. Other ideas, like a microwave gun to 鈥渂eam鈥� words directly into people鈥檚 ears, have been tested. It is claimed that the so-called 鈥淔rey Effect鈥� 鈥� using close-range microwaves to produce audible sounds in a person鈥檚 ears 鈥� has been used to project the spoken numbers 1 to 10 across a lab to volunteers鈥�.
In 2004 the US Navy funded research into using the Frey effect to .
The report also discusses a microwave weapon able to produce a disabling 鈥渁rtificial fever鈥� by heating a person鈥檚 body. While tests of the idea are not mentioned, the report notes that the necessary equipment 鈥渋s available today鈥�. It adds that while it would take at least fifteen minutes to achieve the desired 鈥渇ever鈥� effect, it could be used to incapacitate people for almost 鈥渁ny desired period consistent with safety.鈥�
Less exotic technologies discussed include laser dazzlers and a sound source loud enough to disturb the sense of balance. Both have been realised in the years since the report was written. The US army uses laser dazzlers in Iraq, while the Long Range Acoustic Device has military and civilian users, and has been used on one occasion to repel pirates off Somalia.
However, the report does not mention any trials of weapons for producing artificial fever or seizures, or beaming voices into people鈥檚 heads.
Potentially torturous
, a security expert at Leeds Metropolitan University, UK, warns that the technologies described could be used for torture. In 1998 the European Parliament passed a motion banning potentially dangerous incapacitating technologies that interfere with the human brain.
鈥淭he epileptic seizure inducing device is grossly irresponsible and should never be fielded,鈥� says Steve Wright 鈥淲e know from similar [chemically] artificially-induced fits that the victim subsequently remains 鈥減otentiated鈥� and may spontaneously suffer epileptic fits again after the initial attack.鈥�
The acoustic energy device that affects the ear canals, disrupting the motion sense, may require dangerously loud sound levels to be effective, points out Juergen Altmann, a physicist at Dortmund University, Germany, who is interested in new military technologies.
鈥淸There is] inconsistency between the part that says 鈥渋nteresting鈥� effects occur at 130-155 dB and the Recovery/Safety section that says that 115 dB is to be avoided 鈥� without commenting on the difference.鈥�
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