Raytheon's Silent Guardian keeps crowds under control
By Darren Murph 
posted Oct 9th 2007 10:07PM
posted Oct 9th 2007 10:07PM
Raytheon sure loves its lasers, and it's proving so with the crowd-repelling Silent Guardian. The device, which is part of the Directed Energy Solutions program, is reportedly designed to be mounted onto a military vehicle where it can "throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile," penetrating enemy skin just 1/64th of an inch and not causing "visible, permanent injury." Essentially, the invisible beam has the ability to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain," which seems to stop just as soon as you're able to get out of the ray's path. According to its maker, the machine could be used in "various commercial and military applications including law enforcement, checkpoint security, facility protection, force protection and peacekeeping missions," and it's ready to calm the masses as we speak.[Via InformationWeek]
Read - Silent Guardian product page
Read - Silent Guardian hands-on
Don't tase me bro!
no no...
Don't LASE me bro!!!!
LOL
thats what you get when you try to ask john kerry a question
Its all fun and games till they point that thing in someones eye.
the ability to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain,"
Steve Jobs already has this covered.
SHUT UP!
What do you have against macs?
mushrooshi,
SHUT UP!
Why do you enjoy limitless heat on your nuts?
On a side note, the "limitless, unbearable pain" sounds exactly like rowing on an ergometer (if anyone has any idea what I'm talking about I'm sure you can back me up)
2500 meter - sub 8
....then I would puke.
(that was 12 years ago)
ahh yes the dreded 6k.... goddamn im glad those days are gone, o yea and doing that at 5 in the morning is a blast too!
I guess the dead and dying masses prefer stupid jokes and Doom comments to actual truth.
Yeah its a tech site but how funny is it gonna be when your kid calls you from the college protest you told him/her not to go to, and you find out they essentially tortured your own child into submission. Pray you don't have loved ones who believe in the right to dissent. Repeated exposure to this thing could riddle their body with PERMANENT pinched nerves.
Don't you just love America. Where we can claim we are better than everyone else because we are so free, and yet we laugh when our government openly plots to role mass-torture devices to use on its own people.
Do you even have a clue what a pinched nerve is? If not, just think about what it means to pinch something and then re-evaluate the likeliness of that happening.
@nikola: First off, it's not our government, but our private sector. This comes from Raytheon, and despite that they're heavily intertwined with our military, they are not (YET) our military.
Second, I would prefer the perception of being set on fire to ACTUALLY being set on fire.
Third, what makes you think this will be limited to the United States? Raytheon sells equipment all over the world. This could be anywhere within a month. I predict a huge market in third-world warlords, banana-republics, and potential war criminals.
Fourth; get off your soap-box. Just because it comes from an American company doesn't mean it's exclusively American, or that it is some reflection on American mass-culture. This isn't an excuse to bash a foreign (or even your home) country or your belief of the goals of its future, as-yet-unnamed leaders.
And last, "permanently pinched nerves" from a low-penetration microwave emitter? That's just plain idiotic. Do you learn science from cereal boxes? Do you think Wifi can hurt you, too?
Oddly enough, this is the first time an aluminum-foil hat would actually do some good. Or just a piece of sheet metal.
Raytheon can not sell or export ANY technology without the permission of the US Government. It can not be "anywhere" within a month.
Woohoo! Perfect another method of tortu... errr... another weapon in the war against terrorism! Long live the Chimp or the United States (COTUS)!
Looks likes they are sending us a pretty dam clear message. Our government considers us, the American public, their enemy, and intends to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain" against us.
WAKE UP!!! THIS IS WHAT THEY INTEND TO USE AGAINST US! WHATS WRONG WITH YOU PEOPLE??
Of course, the sky is falling, the sky is falling! The evil BushChimpyHitlerHalliburtonHippopotamus is making the sky fall! Wake up!!!
The sky isn't falling! It's shooting at us! Ohnoes! Oh the humanity! Oh the mayhem! Oh the silliness!
Can it play doom?
I wouldn't recommend trying it.
...and there is a time to ask that question-- that time is devices with processing power. This just has the power of, uh 'limitless, unbearable pain'.
its the most releastic game of doom ever.
actually transports you into a bottomless pit of pain!
This COULD be a very useful thing for police to have....if they could figure out a way to flood a building with the beam it would be a quick and easy way to end hostage situations...
"IF" being a big word
The perpetrators would just use the hostages as human shields, no?
@ Flyy...this is true, but at this point it's not even possible to get the technology inside the building...but I mean if they used a top down approach? iono
I, for one, welcome our new bovine overlords.
You do know that Bovine means cows?
Moo?
the modern day fire hose, take that free thinkers.
now that i know its a torture device. it looks 1000x more uber evil-er.
robot programmed to deliver limitless unbearable pain. hmm...
Sure, it won't hurt you now, but what if we up the grid current on the PA a little more? How deep will it go then? Or maybe vary the frequency a bit? How soon before someone gets too close to when it is set to the 1/2 mile range and goes blind?
@ Flyy - being non lethal, targeting hostages n perps at same time is no biggie
@ David W. - Target thru the walls, its wave millimeter unless they got lead plating lmao
No biggie eh, I'd like to borrow the thing and test it a few days on you, no biggie right?
@wWhat - You are telling me that if someone has a gun pointed at your head you would prefer to... uhh... see how it plays out, rather than take a quick shot from this thing in order to disarm the person about to kill you?
Does anyone else find this a tad creepy?
A tad? nice understatement.
Yeah a bit... but at least the US is working on non-lethal weapons... Check out Burma a couple weeks ago, replace this device with a .50 cal, and that is what they use for crowd disbursement. That is just one example. It happens all the time all over the world.
I think it says a lot about the US and the western world in general when you look at the large amounts of money spent on non-lethal weapons and weapons designed to reduce collateral damage.
Of course, none of this matters if you are an uninformed cynic.
I love how while Japan's Scientists are working on improving the quality of life through consumer electronics, ours our getting paid big money to come up with ways to inflict "limitless unbearable pain"
USA! USA! USA!
Well this way when the value of the dollar has totally crashed we can use American xenophobia to wage war on those Japs! By then maybe they'll have figured out that space laser and with a little calibration they can use it to wipe out swaths of crap on the surface. Enter WWIII 1/2.
Yes that's terrible.
Pure genius.
Sounds about right, well stated.
What happened to my flying car anyways?
We don't have flying cars but we can microwave them water cells underneath yer epidermis(thats means skin). Bet yer grandparents didn't predict that one.
USA!! USA!! USA!!
*falls down in seering agony as skins boils*
USA! USA! USA!
Don't forget that Japan doesn't spend much money researching weaponry because it just buys it from the US... like the sh!tload of highly advanced highly deadly Aegis cruisers they have on order.
They should deploy hundreds of these along our southern borders. end of illegal immigration :)
Yeah, stop all those drunk-ass students fleeing to Mexico over spring-break.
Jeeezus.
Since when did the infliction of "limitless, unbearable pain" on *anyone* become an acceptable civil or military tactic? Isn't that just another name for torture?
Sounds awfully like cruel and unusual punishment... :(
As long as the person has to walk into it himself it's not torture, but if you direct it at crowds/individual it is, but fortunately the americans now condone torture so it's all swell..
Sign me up for the pain, instead of the bullet through my head or chest.
But...
Will it blend?
Again, a question that should only be asked of devices with processing power. Don't overuse it, cause it just angers people.
And people, when this question is asked in the proper situation, remember that it tells us:
1. OGL compliant GPU/driver,
2. MMU,
3. No code signing. So feel free to freak out at this guy, but try not to when it is a valid question to ask.
Each year we get closer and closer to those magic weapons in Star Trek that just make a noise and crumpled everyone to the floor until it stopped. A sort of Yoko-Ono Raygun.
Thus proving the until-now-unrecognized genius of the tinfoil hat
Hat? Pssh.
Think MJOLNR.
i saw this on television. everybody, its not a torture device, its designed for riot-control. If there were people who refused to move this simply irritates them to a point in which they have to move; their bodies can't handle it. once they are out of the way of the beam they feel no more irritation.
Does in penetrate clothing? Seems easy to block.
Also- can it be effective through windshield or window glass?
No- really- I'm serious! So-long tailgaters!!
It was an episode of FUTURE WEAPONS and yes, not only does it penetrate clothing, but can be selective (to person, not just a group) and from quite a distance (think end of football field).
My guess is, you could shield yourself (its only concentrated microwaves).
Then again, would you spark and ignite your clothing? Hint: wear cotton as polys will melt)
Best solution: use an RPG on the thing!
Raytheon have wasted their time - Simon Cowell already irritates me to the point that I have to move away.
This uses a powerful laser which, when it hits someone up to 11/2 miles away, produces a "plasma" - a bubble of superhot gas - on the skin.
Don't know why they didn't just say 5.5 miles, lol.
Because it's formatted badly and really means 1.5 miles (1 1/2 miles).
Why does everyone keep thinking this has anything to do with lasers? My understanding is that this uses millimeter-wave Radio Frequency to achieve the effect.
Wow... ain't that just wet your pants scary? It's like the next step up from tickling someone to death. It's plain idiotic to think that this couldn't be used for torture.
If this thing can really calm the masses it has a chance of replace religion.
oh how I love the phrase "and not causing "visible, permanent injury." Good to know that I will have permanent injury that I can't prove to a court 'cuz no one can see it.
When will this be used against americans I wonder? Boy will it be easy to suppress any kind of dissention among the liberal terrorists.
*terrifying* to think what this can do to someone without even leaving a mark.
I'd like to see this used at the next Democratic National Convention.....teach them liberal pussies a lesson!
Dang, what would a mall cop be with one of these on top of his golf cart?
As for the not causing "visible, permanent injury." Couldn't something like this stimulate cancer cell growth over the long term?
ability to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain," which seems to stop just as soon as you're able to get the ring off your finger...
gotta love the married life.
Crazy, another wonderful torture method for the CIA. US are not anymore a agent of progress for the humanity.
"The West won the world not by the superiority of its ideas or values or religion...but rather by its superiority in applying organized violence. Westerners often forget this fact; non-Westerners never do."(Samuel H. Huntington).
by the way, i guess this kind of weapons would be inefficient against someone wearing a swissshield.
Why does engadget keep posting on old technology?
http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/IT-O
Yea to all you people complaining about torture methods and how evil this is take your heads out of you know where and realize that this is invented so that people might live and can eventually live their lives or hopefully change them after this experience.
As for using this device as a torture method, I'm sure it would be great but the problem is that torture isn't about physical pain but about a persons mental ability to cope, from a standard beating to a skin burning laser they both accomplish the same task, just one is safer. I think this is a great invention and could possibly save many lives.
The Cruciatus Curse anyone?
Compact this thing into wand form and then we'd be talking.
Fuck Raytheon. They screwed my father over till the day that he died- and are continuing the displeasure of his services to him, with still more and more mail to remind us.
Fuckers.
Uggh, of course my comments get put in the wrong place. I was replying to the person who said that this thing could give an individual pinched nerves.
Do you even have a clue what a pinched nerve is? If not, just think about what it means to pinch something and then re-evaluate the likeliness of that happening.
Crucio!!
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both." -Benjamin Franklin
"Those who would give up Essential Liberty to purchase a little Temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety"
If you're going to quote one of this countries greatest men, please get it right.
You are right, sorry about that. I stand corrected.
If you type that quote i wrote to google, you can see how many websites actually have that wrong.
Scan from the original:
http://www.futureofthebook.com/picture$606
If this thing causes as much pain as they say, this thing would probably start a stampede. And if someone gets trampled and killed, I call dibs on the lawsuit.
Damn this thing is scary... Let's use it against the guy who invented it!
"But it'll control rioting people and..." Yeah yeah. *Buzzzt*
“Our government is the potent, the omnipresent teacher. For good or ill it teaches the whole people by its example.”
-- Timothy McVeigh
People should not be afraid of their governments. Governments should be afraid of their people.
Comment posted in the wrong place. Sorry.
Uggh, of course my comments get put in the wrong place. I was replying to the person who said that this thing could give an individual pinched nerves.
"No visible, permanent injury" except causing cancer, right?
It's good until someone figures out they can use a trash can lid to reflect the beam right back at military vehicle. Then it's even better!
to all those nuts that believe this will be used for torture....
GOOD!!
If we don't torture terrorists for info, how the hell are we gonna get intelligence from them? by asking?!?!
"pretty please, tell us where osama is, pleeeeeeaaaseeeee??? ill give u a lolipop if you do!"
Um its very well known that a torture victim would say apsalutly anything.
So anything some one says under torture is likly to be faulse anyway... Stop watching 24 and thinking that all the guys out there are on your side.
Some one under torture would say there mother shags wild horses every tuesday and thursday evning to help pay the rent under the rule of the president, to stop the torture... So grow up a little and realise the real world... Your government is not working for your best interest. Al quida while may pose a threat. They do not pose the threat your government want you to believe.
And you've searched for Osama? Six years?
Now replace the words rioting crouds with peacful protesters, what do you get? Totalitarian control...
f*** this really terrorfys me... I keep reading about every single bit of liberty and freedom where all giving up... Im glad im not in the states Im in the UK and its just as scary as where not that far away from it...
We keep getting closer and closer to a horrific situation witch could bring us to a new civle war against the governments...
This shit really does terrify me. I just cant put it any other way
Waah. Be peaceful and you won't get microwaved. Be unpeaceful and you're in for a dose of pain.
The ability to target individuals in a crowd is actually a good thing for leftists, who always claim it's the "anarchists" who mess things up. The only riot control things that are less-than-lethal are area weapons like CS, pepper gas, stingball grenades, etc. At least now the people charged with maintaining public order can actually put the whammy on these "anarchists" and leave the peaceful folks alone.
And when you consider that the current response to people drunkenly or maliciously driving toward a checkpoint and refusing orders to stop in places like Iraq and Afghanistan is half a belt of 7.62mm bullets, a pain-ray is probably preferable, at least to the drunks.
Oh, and combine some of these with all those cameras in the UK and you have a real interesting combination:
"Pick up the candy wrapper you just dropped. You have ten seconds to show compliance."
Orwell wasn't writing about America, ya' tosser.
No shit asswipe
As long as Cobra doesn't get the B.E.T we should be fine
Has Myanmar placed it's order with the good people at Raytheon yet?
Next time there's a strike at the Raytheon plant, I'll bet NO ONE crosses the picket line!
So what happens when someone holds a parabolic dish in front of them and aims the waves back at the guys controlling it?
awesomeness.
a tin foil parabolic dish should work too.
"Limitless, unbearable pain", eh. Well, that sounds like the perfect device to put in the hands of humans.