The US military has given the first public display of what it says is a revolutionary heat-ray weapon to repel enemies or disperse hostile crowds.
Called the Active Denial System, it projects an invisible high energy beam that produces a sudden burning feeling, but is said to be harmless. Military officials believe the gun could be used as a non-lethal way of making enemies surrender their weapons.
Officials involved with the development of the ray gun, said there was wide-ranging military interest in the technology. Defense official Theodore Barna told Reuters news agency:
"This is a breakthrough technology that's going to give our forces a capability they don't now have. We expect the services to add it to their tool kit. And that could happen as early as 2010."
The prototype weapon - called Silent Guardian - was demonstrated at the Moody Air Force Base in Georgia. A beam was fired from a large rectangular dish mounted on a Humvee vehicle. The beam has a reach of up to 500m (550 yds), much further than existing non-lethal weapons like rubber bullets. It can penetrate clothes, suddenly heating up the skin of anyone in its path to 50C. But it penetrates the skin only to a tiny depth - enough to cause discomfort but no lasting harm, according to the military.
A Reuters journalist who volunteered to be shot with the beam described the sensation as similar to a blast from a very hot oven - too painful to bear without diving for cover.
Military officials said the weapon was one of the key technologies of the future. Col Hymes said:
It would mean that troops could take effective steps to move people along without resorting to measures such as rubber bullets - bridging the gap between 'shouting and shooting'.
A similar "non-lethal" weapon, Silent Guardian, is being developed by US company Raytheon.
