Hurmoth Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 U.S. Air Force Capt. Drew Goettler, at Kirtland Air Force Base, N.M., demonstrates a prototype hand held laser device developed as a non-lethal weapon intended to "dazzle" a potential enemy by temporarily impairing a person's ability to see. WASHINGTON - It?s the stuff of fiction. A hand held laser weapon with the Star Trek moniker ?PHaSER,? developed by the Air Force as a non-lethal weapon capable of being used on the battlefield or on the mean streets of any major city.Think more along the lines of Buck Rogers rather than a Star Wars Jedi light saber. The ?Personal Halting and Stimulation Response? (PHaSER) bears as much resemblance to the Star Trek phaser as a Volkswagen does to an M1 Abrams battle tank. Air Force researchers refer to the device as ?man portable,? because the prototype takes two arms to cradle and no small amount of heft to raise it to the shoulder and fire. Using a two-wavelength laser system ? the details of which Air Force researchers declined to discuss ? the weapon is intended to temporarily blind an attacker. The Air Force calls it ?dazzling? a suspected bad guy. ?When you 'dazzle? an individual with laser light, it?s pretty much the same effect as if someone shines a flashlight in your eyes,? said Maj. Monte Anderson, project leader at ScorpWorks, an internal division within the Air Force Research Laboratory?s Directed Energy Directorate. ?The brightness and intensity of the light is so much that it obscures your vision and you can?t see,? Anderson said. ?The intent is to obscure the adversary?s vision so they can?t make you a target.? So far about $900,000 has gone into developing two working prototypes, said Capt. Thomas Wegner, PHaSER?s program manager. The National Institute of Justice, the law enforcement arm of the Justice Department, provided funding in addition to military money, Wegner said. In 1995 the United Nations adopted Protocol IV of the Geneva Convention that specifically banned the use of laser devices on the battlefield designed to cause permanent blindness. The United States was not a signatory to that protocol; however, then Secretary of Defense William Perry pledged that the U.S. would still abide by dictates of that protocol. ?Meaning that we cannot intentionally cause blindness with a directed energy weapon,? Anderson said. ?PHaSER meets Protocol IV requirements.? Currently the device must be accurately dialed in; too close and PHaSER will blind; too far and PHaSER might as well be an oversized laser pointer. However, the second generation prototype now being built, with the help of $250,000 from the National Institute of Justice, will have ?an eye-safe laser ranger finder so we can range the target and then adjust the power level accordingly so that the maximum safe energy is put on target,? Anderson said. Small catch: it is possible to potentially defeat PHaSER by whipping out the too-hip-it-hurts laboratory equivalent of Ray Ban sunglasses to deflect the laser beam. PHaSER?s creators aren?t deterred. ?PHaSER helps you determine intent,? Anderson said. Think of conventional guns and bullets, he said. If you see a bad guy sporting a bulletproof vest that?s a pretty good indication of his intent and you act appropriately, Anderson said. Using PHaSER in the field is no different. ?If you have someone that?s a troublemaker and you decide to use non-lethal force on him and you use PHaSER and he pulls out a pair of laser eye protection, you?ve determined his intent,? Anderson said. Don?t look for your local cops to have PHaSER slung over their shoulder any time soon. It could take another five years before PHaSER moves through all the appropriate testing and budgetary request cycles inside the Pentagon, Anderson said. Or the whole project could simply be set to stun and never see any practical use at all. ?That?s absolutely true,? Anderson said. ?We build the prototypes here in the lab and then it goes to other people to test it and figure out how to use it.? MSNBC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vincent Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 That looks like something i can buy at toy's r us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
xorian Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 I'd sure like to get my hands on something like that! :) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sundayx Veteran Posted December 2, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 2, 2005 supersoker 180000000? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kennyout Posted December 2, 2005 Share Posted December 2, 2005 I see....a waste of money.... and who says the anti-laser glasses would have to be pulled out?....i mean with current fashion trends you could make them look like current ones but in seriousness... waste of money if it can't stun the enemy.....or turn them to a crisp....then basically what they have is a high intsiety flashlight....that temp blinds...like a flashbang.... and even worse....they try to make it look high tech/neo future look to it...who knows how much the casing adds to the weight of the thing... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aaron Veteran Posted December 2, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 2, 2005 I see....a waste of money.... and who says the anti-laser glasses would have to be pulled out?....i mean with current fashion trends you could make them look like current ones but in seriousness... waste of money if it can't stun the enemy.....or turn them to a crisp....then basically what they have is a high intsiety flashlight....that temp blinds...like a flashbang.... and even worse....they try to make it look high tech/neo future look to it...who knows how much the casing adds to the weight of the thing... The article said it weigheda s much as an M60: http://www.fas.org/man/dod-101/sys/land/m60e3.htm Length: 42.4 inches (107.70 centimeters) Weight: 18.75 pounds (8.51 kilograms) BAscially the M60 is the Rambo gun, with the strings of bullets wrapped around his chest. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boffa Jones Veteran Posted December 2, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 2, 2005 It seems like one of those things that will give a whole bunch of people cancer... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
raid517 Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Erm... wouldn't a highbeam high intensity flashlight be just as effective? So er... you plan to fight the enemy with a lazer pointer/toy gun? Lol. Neat idea. (Not). GJ It seems like one of those things that will give a whole bunch of people cancer... Erm - so you have to wait for the guy who's running at you with a sub machine gun to die of cancer? Lol... What on earth the rational behind that? I wonder if you have to make your own laser beam noises when you pull the trigger too? GJ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
R-Flex Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 It seems like one of those things that will give a whole bunch of people cancer... Doctor (to Iraqi insurgent): I'm sorry, sir, but you have cancer. But, at least you didn't get shot! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rob2687 Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Shrink that down a bit and you got your self one of those phaser rifles in Star Trek. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boffa Jones Veteran Posted December 3, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 3, 2005 Erm... wouldn't a highbeam high intensity flashlight be just as effective? So er... you plan to fight the enemy with a lazer pointer/toy gun? Lol. Neat idea. (Not). GJ Erm - so you have to wait for the guy who's running at you with a sub machine gun to die of cancer? Lol... What on earth the rational behind that? I wonder if you have to make your own laser beam noises when you pull the trigger too? GJ The problem with that is that I can see them using it on people who aren't necessarily insurgents, IE crowds of people demonstrating or something like that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hurmoth Posted December 3, 2005 Author Share Posted December 3, 2005 That looks like something i can buy at toy's r us. You can, they're on a after Thanksgiving sale, only $19.99 after a mail-in rebate :p Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shibby Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 i wonder what the long term affects are of this to the eyes. why not use water guns. they sort everyone out. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MonkeyClaw Veteran Posted December 3, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 3, 2005 You can, they're on a after Thanksgiving sale, only $19.99 after a mail-in rebate :p haha, well I'll be waiting outside best buy again for 4 hours. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blackhorse Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 How and whom are they gonna test on? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
12Iceman Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 Update to the story: After spending over a million dollars developing the PHaSER, government officials just discovered a similar product which cost only $4.75 and weighs only ounces. However, the developer of the PHaSER has found an alternate use for his prototype. It seems to be able to attract large crowds of people at Halo Conventions, allowing the PHaSER's developer to quickly acquire 1337 status Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Osiris Posted December 3, 2005 Share Posted December 3, 2005 ^^LOL Nice. You will find that they have had laser technology capable of doing harm for quite some time, I believe they actually used it in the 70s, and infact as I suspected, in the 80s it was banned by a UN convention Protocol IV on Blinding Laser Weapons prohibits the use of laser weapons specifically designed, as their sole combat function or as one of their combat functions, to cause permanent blindness to unenhanced vision, that is to the naked eye or to the eye with corrective eyesight devices. The High Contracting Parties shall not transfer such weapons to any State or non-State entity. UN Source Page Therefore this device is impressive as they seem to have finally got it to an acceptable level where it dazzes someone instead of completely blinding them. I can see its usefulness in riot control perhaps, but for military purposes, strikes me as not a necessary weapon, especially at its size. Still nice to see laser technology developing along Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Boffa Jones Veteran Posted December 3, 2005 Veteran Share Posted December 3, 2005 Due to possible long term effects I definetly would be against this being used in riot control, whats wrong with mace? I have been sprayed in the face from a foot or two and I was out for quite a while, but I do agree with this being awesome to see the jump in technology. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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