Raytheon's Silent Guardian keeps crowds under control
By Darren Murph 
posted October 9th 2007 10:07PM
posted October 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
It reads ""various commercial and military applications including law.....". Do you see that word "commercial"?
Hey you lawyer types, I'm curious, is it possible that wally world or an event promotion organization or venue could legally use this on anyone? Does any commercial business in the US have the right to use an "invisible beam has the ability to inflict "limitless, unbearable pain,"?
Imagine traffic if we all had one of these in a personal size.
I'd like to see crowds suffer temporary "limitless, unbearable pain," mores than I'd like to see the same crowds scared off using automatic weapons.
I appreciate the effort and expense being put into non-lethal R&D.
Ron Paul,2008
The problem with pain based neurological weapons is that
they are banned under International Treaties which the US
had previously entered into.
To circumvent this current obstacle for their use, the US
has classified these weapons under law enforcement for
civilian unrest rather than for weapons of war, which they
actually are. This theoretically allows for their use
without violating international treaties. In the US, they
have been quietly transfered from the jurisdiction of the
Air Force Directed Energy Directorate to the Department of Justice.
The fact is that these weapons have been tested and were found to produce unanticipated physical harm and not merely momentary discomfort as is being stated for the media PR. Further, variations of frequency produce varying effects.
There is an alleged video shown to Marine Officers which shows this technology in use and causing the human subjects to loose their bowels when his with a frequency. While this may sound humorous to some, it reflects an extreme reaction of the central nervous system at a peak and final attempt of survival behavior.
That alone is far more than crowd control.
There have been unconfirmed reports of blindness and dissolving of the omentum (the membrane covering over the internal organs) resulting from this and very similar pain based radio frequency devices. There have been other reports of injury due to "blow back" suffered by the operators of these technologies.
Lastly, consider that a random crowd would contain those unable to immediately withdraw, such as those injured, those with ambulatory disabilities, and those
suffering from other impairments including shock. Those people would suffer
direct and irreversible damage by microwave energy. And since these weapons have varying adjustments in terms of intensity and duration of discharge, they could
easily exceed being classified as a "less than lethal" or "non lethal" weapon
to a painful and deadly very lethal weapon.
It's important for people, especially US citizens, to fully understand what is
really contained within this technology and concept.
The fact is that neurologically based weapons of pain for which no civilian would have adequate shielding is an abhorent concept for the US to embark on as their
plans for weapons development for the 21st century.