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  • US Army to arm UAVs with xenon-based paralysis inducer

    by 
    Darren Murph
    Darren Murph
    02.22.2007

    While places like Australia and Raleigh might be flooding certain areas (or in the Aussie's case, the whole continent) with more energy-efficient light, the US Army is looking to counteract those uber-green intentions by busting out a 7.5-million candlepower strobe floodlight system to be used as a "non-lethal crowd-control device." The government has awards Pennsylvania-based Peak Systems a contract to fabricate a modified Maxa Beam searchlight that will be xenon-based, sport strobing capabilities, and will act as an "immobilization system /deterrent device" on large crowds. Furthermore, this behemoth of a flashlight will be flanking an unmanned aerial system, presumably to cruise over a rioting crowd (or platoon of foes) and theoretically flash bomb them until they suffer from "short-term paralysis." While the idea sounds like a logical way to slow down millions of oncoming soldiers whilst at war, what happens with those baddies come over the hill rocking welding masks or ultra-tinted Thump shades? [Via Wired]