Weapons of War
Ultramicro, Nonlethal, and Reversible: Looking Ahead to Military Biotechnology
Added: 10/14/05. Source: The U.S. Army Professional Writing Collection.
Biotechnology is developing quite rapidly and has had an enormous effect on the progress of science and technology, as well as on the global economy. Today, the modern biotechnology that focuses on the microcosmos of the life structure can directly explore the main entity of war-human beings themselves-thus taking precise control of the battle effectiveness of enemies.
Compared with wars in the past, war through the command of biotechnology will guarantee the free application and security of our own biotechnology and, ultimately, lead to success through ultramicro, nonlethal, and reversible effects. Biotechnology is likely to bring about profound changes in the military domain and will contribute the utmost to the protection of civilization.
Xtreme Defense: Lightning guns, heat rays, weapons that can make you hear the voice of God. This is what happens when the war on terror meets the entrepreneurial spirit.
Added: 10/14/05. Source: Washington Post.
(Being interviewed are) Bitar, the president and founder of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), Edward Fry, the company's research coordinator, and George Gibbs, of Marine Corps Systems Command. Now his company consists of two full-time employees, himself and Fry, but he hires physicists and engineers as consultants to design and build the parts for his weapons that aren't commercially available. Back in his lab in Anderson, Ind., Bitar has a large apparatus -- 11 feet high -- that shoots sparks about 16 feet. It's too large and cumbersome to be a portable weapon; he thinks it could be used for securing U.S. embassies. He also produces smaller units -- dubbed "StunStrike" -- that he says shoot four-foot bolts of lightning. His prototype for a rifle weighs about 25 pounds and can shoot electricity about 12 feet, he says.
Gibbs, the Marine Corps official who first funded Bitar, has a fondness for edgy ideas. A chemical engineer and longtime proponent of nonlethal weaponry, Gibbs funds other offbeat projects, such as Medusa, an attempt to develop a weapon that uses low-power microwaves -- believed to cause an audible buzzing in subjects' heads -- to make people think God is speaking to them. Another such weapon would use beams of energy to make people dizzy and lose their balance. Bitar resumed with his vision of bloodless warfare. Hostage situations would be as easy as hosing down a whole group of people with the lightning gun, and "then you could separate them out: hostages and non-hostages," he said.
(At) Quantico Marine Base in April (was) the Force Protection Equipment Demonstration, or FPED, the world's largest trade show for counterterrorism technology. XADS's 10-by-10 booth was set up at the back of the first hangar; a table in front displayed an assortment of the company's latest products, including its full line of laser dazzlers. XADS had also added a new acoustic weapon called Screech, which true to its name emits an ear-piercing shriek designed to disperse crowds and cause headaches, Bitar said. But the star attraction was a simple black briefcase that Bitar promised would shoot lightning bolts. "We can tune it all the way down so it feels like broom bristles, and all the way up to knock you down."
Marine Corps Col. David Karcher, who heads the Pentagon's Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate, stopped to watch the demonstration, and promised to return. The vendors' eyes followed Karcher, a man who controls $55 million in annual funding, as he walked slowly past the exhibits, explaining his role: He pays firms to develop nonlethal technology and to test it against strict Pentagon and international standards. For example, his office helped develop the Active Denial System, a weapon that uses millimeter waves -- a supercharged version of microwaves -- to heat up the skin's nerve endings, creating a burning sensation similar to touching a 100-watt light bulb. Except the beam, while painful, does not actually burn the skin. The weapon was only recently declassified, and the Pentagon still won't divulge how far the beam goes.
[Webmaster Note:] This article was published in 28 Aug 2005, but I am not sure how long it will stay available online.
The Mind Has No Firewall: Army article on psychotronic weapons.
Added: 10/14/05. Source: The Memory Hole, original source; Parameters: US Army War College Quarterly.
The human body, much like a computer, contains myriad data processors. They include, but are not limited to, the chemical-electrical activity of the brain, heart, and peripheral nervous system, the signals sent from the cortex region of the brain to other parts of our body, the tiny hair cells in the inner ear that process auditory signals, and the light-sensitive retina and cornea of the eye that process visual activity.
We are on the threshold of an era in which these data processors of the human body may be manipulated or debilitated. Defending friendly and targeting adversary data-processing capabilities of the body appears to be an area of weakness in the US approach to information warfare theory, a theory oriented heavily toward systems data-processing and designed to attain information dominance on the battlefield. Or so it would appear from information in the open, unclassified press.
This article examines energy-based weapons, psychotronic weapons, and other developments designed to alter the ability of the human body to process stimuli. One consequence of this assessment is that the way we commonly use the term "information warfare" falls short when the individual soldier, not his equipment, becomes the target of attack.
[Webmaster Note:] This article was published in 1998, but what it says is extremely pertinent, especially in light of these types of devices being used in Iraq, and against some protest groups in the U.S. Forewarned is forearmed.
Uranium Bullets Not Used for Practice
Added: 9/29/05. Source: The Times Record Fort Smith, AR
Text of Letter to Editor: "On Sept. 3, your paper printed a letter from a Frank Newman from Huntington. In his letter to the editor, Newman addressed his concerns and beliefs that the A-10 close-air-support aircraft is allowed to fire depleted uranium rounds during training sessions while on Fort Chaffee property.
Let me assure everyone in the Fort Smith and Arkansas River Valley areas that this is totally incorrect. While on Fort Chaffee training and bombing ranges, all aircraft are allowed to fire only inert practice rounds, which are referred to as Target Practice rounds.
The rounds Newman refers to are a combat ordnance that is used against combat targets, such as tanks and hard-density targets. Their use is strictly regulated by the Department
The 188th members are excited about the prospects of converting from the F-16 to the A-10 aircraft based on the BRAC Commission's recommendations. The A-10 Thunderbolt is a truly unique weapons platform, and we look forward to undertaking this new mission. But more importantly, the members of the 188th Fighter Wing are excited about continuing with the high standards of excellence that we have come to be known for, right here in Fort Smith. The 188th is a valuable commodity, and we are proud to call Fort Smith our home. May the 188th Fighter Wing serve our great state and country well for decades.
[Note from Webmaster:] This was signed simply "J.R. Dallas, Fort Smith." I recalled seeing the name at the Fort Smith Regional Chamber of Commerce website, listed on the Board of Directors page. I thought it was interesting that Col. Dallas did not use his rank, or indicate his link with Fort Chaffee. There is a second point of interest, too. It would seem potentially hazardous to have "Depleted Uranium" around. There was no denial the rounds are on the post, potentially available (I wonder if local residents know this)... just that there are strict guidelines on their use and troops are only allowed to fire inert practice rounds.
US Mulling New Generation of Land Mines
Added: 9/15/05. Source: San Francisco Chronicle
The Pentagon will decide by December whether to produce a new generation of land mines that has already cost $100 million in development. Underscoring the unpopularity of the devices, defense officials working on the program, called Spider, declined to call the weapon a land mine. They opted instead for generic descriptions like "networked munitions."
Unlike a traditional minefield, it is designed to be monitored by a human operator, who can activate the system by computer when somebody enters the protected area. It can also be set to function like a traditional minefield, without any human monitoring, officials involved with the program said in recent interviews. But they insisted that option would only be used in rare cases, with approval by senior officers on the ground.
The Bush administration has said it will not join the Ottawa treaty, already ratified by 143 countries, that bans anti-personnel mines. A provision of the treaty prohibits signatories from assisting other countries whose actions would violate it. NATO allies who are part of the treaty could balk at working with the U.S. if the American military wanted to use mines during a joint operation.
A single Spider system would involve up to 84 "munitions," each a small disc with six miniature, single-shot grenade launchers. When a nearby tripwire is triggered, one or all the grenades will fire, depending on the setting. The disks can also be loaded with plastic balls as a nonlethal weapon. The new mines can either turn themselves off or their batteries run out in 30 days. If developed, the weapon could be ready for initial deployment to the 2nd Infantry Division in South Korea by 2008.
Air Force Moves to Reopen Bomb Competition
Added: 9/13/05. Source: Wired News
The US Air Force issued a draft "request for proposals" for new bids in the second phase of the Small Diameter Bomb. Last year, Lockheed Martin successfully challenged Boeing's selection for the contract.
The Government Accounting Office supported Lockheed's protest after convicted Air Force acquisitions official Darleen Druyun admitted to having steered billions of dollars of business, including the Small Diameter Bomb, to Boeing. Soon after she accepted a job with the company.
GAO agreed that Druyun had played a role in a process that led to changes in the bomb's technical requirements and the deletion of related evaluation criteria. Finally, a recommendation was made to conduct another competition for the second phase.
The precision 7.5-inch-diameter weapon is to be mounted first on the Boeing F-15E Strike Eagle in 2006.
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