Say
Hello to the Goodbye Weapon
The crowd is getting ugly. Soldiers roll up in a Hummer.
Suddenly, the whole right half of your body is screaming in
agony. You feel like you've been dipped in molten lava. You
almost faint from shock and pain, but instead you stumble
backwards -- and then start running. To your surprise,
everyone else is running too. In a few seconds, the street
is completely empty.
You've just been hit with a new nonlethal weapon that has
been certified for use in Iraq.
The ADS shoots a beam of millimeters waves, which are longer
in wavelength than x-rays but shorter than microwaves -- 94
GHz (= 3 mm wavelength) compared to 2.45 GHz (= 12 cm
wavelength) in a standard microwave oven.
The beam produces what experimenters call the "Goodbye
effect," or "prompt and highly motivated escape behavior."
In human tests, most subjects reached their pain threshold
within 3 seconds, and none of the subjects could endure more
than 5 seconds.
"It will repel you," one test subject said. "If hit by the
beam, you will move out of it -- reflexively and quickly.
You for sure will not be eager to experience it again."
In more than 10,000 exposures, there were six cases of
blistering and one instance of second-degree burns in a
laboratory accident, the documents claim.
The beam penetrates clothing, but not stone or metal.
Blocking it is harder than you might think. Wearing a
tinfoil shirt is not enough -- you would have to be wrapped
like a turkey to be completely protected. The experimenters
found that even a small exposed area was enough to produce
the Goodbye effect, so any gaps would negate protection.
Holding up a sheet of metal won't work either, unless it
covers your whole body and you can keep the tips of your
fingers out of sight.
Wet clothing might sound like a good defense, but tests
showed that contact with damp cloth actually intensified the
effects of the beam.
System 1, the operational prototype, is mounted on a Hummer
and produces a beam with a 2-meter diameter. Effective range
is at least 500 meters, which is further than rubber
bullets, tear gas or water cannons. The ammunition supply is
effectively unlimited.
"It can be used to deny an area to individuals or groups, to
control access, to prevent an individual or individuals from
carrying out an undesirable activity, and to delay or
disrupt adversary activity."
