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Electromagnetic weapon

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Electromagnetic (radiation) weapons are a type of directed energy weapons which use electromagnetic radiation to deliver heat, mechanical, or electrical energy to a target to cause various, sometimes very subtle, effects. They can be used against humans, electronic equipment, and military targets generally, depending on the technology.

High-energy radio frequency weapons (HERF) or high-power radio frequency weapons (HPRF) use high intensity radio waves to disrupt electronics.

High and low power, Pulsed Microwave devices use low-frequency microwave radiation which can be made to closely mimic and interact with normal human brain waves having similar amplitudes and frequencies. The heart, lungs, and other vital organs are controlled by very low voltage electric signals from the human brain. It should be possible to disrupt, catastrophically, such signals— from a distance— using this technology. Taser-like motor effects are also possible. The purpose of the PEP (Pulsed Energy Projectile), the LIP (Laser Induced Plasma) weapon and the Active Denial System (ADS) is to induce pain, although the PEP has lethal capabilities.

Research and development

The University of Florida and the University of Central Florida, in conjunction with the Office of Naval Research, conducted a study begun in 2004 called "the Sensory Consequences of Electromagnetic Pulses Emitted by Laser Induced Plasma Channels". According to Dr. Jonathan Moreno, author of the book MIND WARS (2009), this project will have to be brought out of the laboratory and onto the battlefield to determine the full effects of using these weapons on humans. (Google award/contract M67854-04-C-5074)

The University of Texas-Austin Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) conducts basic research to advance electrodynamics and hypervelocity physics related to electromagnetic weapons.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Dahlgren Division in Dahlgren, Virginia is home to the Maginot’ Open Air Test Site (MOATS), specifically designed for Radio Frequency (RF) susceptibility of electronic equipment to potential High Power Microwave (HPM) weapon systems.

In 2011, Boeing completed the first flight test of a Counter-electronics missile.

The United States military spent $40 million dollars researching a non-lethal electromagnetic weapon for the purpose of crowd-dispersal.

Project Pandora

Project Pandora was conducted by the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA), which became Defense ARPA (DARPA), included externally induced auditory input from pulsed microwaves which create the effect of hearing mechanical or clicking noises. Test subjects reported clearly hearing the sounds whether or not they were wearing ear protection, such as ear plugs. The research was conducted on conducted microwave research on animals and Navy personnel, achieving mixed results. This research was carried out by the psychology division within the psychiatry research section of Walter Reed Army Institute of Research. Project Pandora is no longer under study.

Examples

Effects

Use against equipment and electronics

When used against equipment, directed electromagnetic energy weapons can operate similarly to omnidirectional electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices, by inducing destructive voltage in electronic wiring. The difference is that they are directional and can be focused on a specific target using a parabolic reflector. Faraday cages may be used to provide protection from most directed and undirected EMP effects.

Directed energy weapons such as Boeing’s Airborne Laser, a chemical laser which has been mounted in a 747 jet, is reported to be able to destroy incoming missiles by heating and warping the thin pressurized skins typical of such missiles.

Electromagnetic weapons, including high power microwave weapons, were used in the Gulf War to disrupt and destroy the enemy's electronic systems and may have been used for other purposes. The degree of exposure to electromagnetic fields by Iraqi civilians and battlefield troops is unknown.

Use against humans

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When used against humans electromagnetic weapons can have dramatic effects, such as the intense burning sensation caused by Raytheon's Active Denial system, or more subtle effects such as the creation—at a distance—of a sense of anxiety or dread (or euphoria), intense drowsiness, or confusion in an individual or a group of people. Three military advantages of such weapons are:

  1. That the individual or group of people would not necessarily realize that they were being targeted by such a device.
  2. That microwave radiation, like some other radio frequency radiation, can easily penetrate most common building materials.
  3. That with specialized antennas the radiation and its effects can be focused on either an individual or a large area such as a city or country.

Potential military(/law enforcement) uses for such weapons include:

  1. Capability to influence an enemy force (or population) to flee rather than to stand and fight by imposing on them an intense sense of uneasiness or dread.

Ethical considerations

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  1. Faced with peaceful, non-violent protestors, law enforcement officials having, say, airborne, brain-wave-synchronized, electromagnetic weapons at their disposal could covertly influence the protestors to disband without the demonstrators even being aware that such an effort was underway.
  2. Law enforcement officials could also use an electromagnetic pulse device to knock out unshielded mobile phones and cameras, reducing the capacity of civilians present to document police activity.
  3. Faced with rioting and overt violence a government could covertly create a perimeter fence of radiation through which the rioters could not pass without feeling unbearable pain.
  4. Using electromagnetic weapons law enforcement officials could, over time, covertly harass a "person of interest" into committing suicide and thereby effectively admit his involvement in the crime.
  5. A US citizen could, under the protection of the US Constitution, launch from behind drawn blinds a covert electronic attack on an unwanted, unsuspecting neighbor - perhaps a neighbor of another religion or ethnicity - thereby influencing the neighbor to sell his house and move away. Even if the neighbor suspected - or knew - he was being harassed electronically he probably could not convince the authorities to search his unfriendly neighbor's home without his being able to produce indisputable evidence of the harassment. (And, since claims of electromagnetic neurological interference are often considered a mark of paranoid delusions: see tin foil hat, the victim would be understandably reluctant to attempt to do so.)
  6. By way of an electromagnetic signal directed toward them from a hidden microwave-type antenna, a person looking at an item in a store window could be influenced to experience emotions very similar to those they would experience while sexually aroused. They could be thereby covertly influenced to buy the item.
  7. Unknown to that population, a government or military could successfully attempt to calm the emotions of a small population of people enraged, say, by the murder or accidental killing of a child, through sophisticated electromagnetic radiation weapons.

See also

References

  1. Exploiting Technical Opportunities to Capture Advanced Capabilities for Our Soldiers; Army AL&T; 2007 Oct-Dec; Dr. Reed Skaggs
  2. Dao, James (March 2, 2001). "Pentagon Unveils Plans for a New Crowd-Dispersal Weapon". The New York Times.
  3. Sharon Weinberger (January 14, 2007). "Mind Games". Washington Post.
  4. "Lynch, Zach" ("July 21, 2009"). "The Neuro Revolution: How Brain Science is Changing the World". "Macmillan". {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  5. ”Light Warfare”; by Matthew Swibel; 04.23.07; Forbes.com
  6. U.S. Senate - Committee on Veterans Affairs: Hearings - Gulf War Illnesses; Testimony to the Senate Veterans Affairs Committee; Meryl Nass, MD, Director of Pulmonary Rehabilitation, Mount Desert Island Hospital Bar Harbor, Maine; September 25, 2007

Additional sources

External links

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