Mar 8, 2021
Michael Peck
The U.S. military wants to arm small drones and manned vehicles with non-lethal weapons.
These devices would include exotic non-lethal gear, including directed energy weapons such as low-powered lasers and microwave beams, as well as more familiar weapons such as stun grenades and stink bombs. These weapons would equip aerial drones and manned and robotic ground vehicles, as well naval surface and underwater craft.
For most of history, armies have only enjoyed a binary option: either use lethal force or don’t use force at all. Employing regular troops – who often lacked appropriate equipment and training – for missions such as riot control and civil policing often had bloody and politically embarrassing results.
But a new generation of non-lethal weapons – and the advent of small drones able to carry them – offers new options for armies preparing for gray zone warfare, that netherworld populated by information operations, cyberattacks, state-sponsored political and militant groups, and special forces operations. For U.S. commanders dreading social media video of American troops firing bullets at a mob, a robot that can disperse rioters with a non-lethal laser or microwave cannon would be a godsend.
Excerpt: Particularly intriguing is a call for development of “optogenics modulation of high magnetic fields” to disrupt the human nervous system.
Related: The Pentagon Fears That Deadly Microwave Weapons Are Undetectable https://www.forbes.com/sites/michaelpeck/2021/03/02/the-pentagon-fears-that-deadly-microwave-weapons-are-undetectable/?sh=43c970b0cc3f