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| Why don’t they just put on Smashing Pumpkins & turn up the volume? |
| 2004-03-03 |
| They’d play Barry Minlow on a 24 hr loop, but it’s against the Geneve Conventions .... U.S. soldiers in Iraq have new gear for dispersing hostile crowds and warding off potential enemy combatants. It blasts earsplitting noise in a directed beam. The equipment, called a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a so-called "non-lethal weapon" developed after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep operators of small boats from approaching U.S. warships. The devices have been used on some U.S. ships since last summer as part of a suite of protection devices. Now, the Army and Marines have added this auditory barrage dispenser to their arms ensembles. Troops in Fallujah, a center of insurgency west of Baghdad, and other areas of central Iraq in particular often deal with crowds in which lethal foes intermingle with non-hostile civilians. The developer of the LRAD, American Technology Corp. of San Diego, recently got a $1.1 million contract from the U.S. Marine Corps to buy the gadgets for units deployed to Iraq. The Army also sent LRADs to Iraq to test on vehicles. Some of the Iraq-bound devices will be used by members of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, both recently deployed to the western province of Al Anbar, a largely barren, predominantly Sunni Muslim area. Though not officially part of the military’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate, the 45-pound, dish-shaped device belongs to a developing arsenal of technologies intended not to kill but to deter. Another such weapon, expected to be tested in the field soon, is the Active Denial System. It seeks to repel enemies with a painful energy beam. Carl Gruenler, vice president of military and government operations for American Technology Corp., said LRADs are "in the beginnings of being used in Baghdad," though he said he lacked "initial feedback" on how they are working. Dubbed "The Sound of Force Protection" in a company brochure, the devices can broadcast sound files containing warning messages. Or they can be used with electronic translating devices for what amounts to "narrowcasting." If crowds or potential foes don’t respond to the verbal messages, the sonic weapon, which measures 33 inches in diameter, can direct a high-pitched, piercing tone with a tight beam. Neither the LRAD’s operators or others in the immediate area are affected. The devices "place distance between the Marine and their threat, giving him/her more time to sort out a measured and appropriate response," Lt. Col. Susan Noel, force protection officer for the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force, said in an ATC statement announcing the contract. Gruenler compares the LRAD’s shrill tone to that of smoke detectors, only much louder. It can be as loud as about 150 decibels; smoke detectors are in the 80 to 90 decibel range. "Inside 100 yards, you definitely don’t want to be there," said Gruenler, adding that the device is recommended for a range of 300 yards or less. Hearing experts say sound that loud and of that high a frequency -- about 2,100 to 3,100 hertz -- could be dangerous if someone were exposed to it long enough. "That’s a sensitive region for developing hearing loss," said Richard Salvi, director of the Center for Hearing and Deafness at the University at Buffalo. "The longer the duration, the more serious it is." Gruenler concedes that permanent hearing damage is possible if someone were exposed to the sound for lengthy periods. But he said the high-pitched tone is intended to only be used for a few seconds at a time. |
| Posted by:rkb |
| #10 Been there, kinda, sorta. Used to have an office at RAF Alconbury that was about 50 yards from the run-up taxiway. We used to get F-111s visiting, two-three times a month, practicing aircraft dispersals. Having a pair of F-111s run up 50 yards away is a significant part of the reason I currently have a 65dB tinnitus problem in the 6KHz range. Noise can actually kill you, if you get the right frequency at the right sound level. Of course, it'd take something like 200dB+ at a very high pitch to do it, but it's possible. If everybody's rolling on the ground clutching their ears, they can't very well shoot you, can they? Consider another application: attach motion sensors to very LOUD sound systems along the border. The Border Patrol could then just drive along, picking up the whimpering, cringing intruders and hustling them back across the border. You'd end up with a large number of deaf people after awhile (the auditory nerve can only take so much), but it would end your illegal alien problem. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-3-4 12:04:26 AM |
| #9 Been there, kinda, sorta. Used to have an office at RAF Alconbury that was about 50 yards from the run-up taxiway. We used to get F-111s visiting, two-three times a month, practicing aircraft dispersals. Having a pair of F-111s run up 50 yards away is a significant part of the reason I currently have a 65dB tinnitus problem in the 6KHz range. Noise can actually kill you, if you get the right frequency at the right sound level. Of course, it'd take something like 200dB+ at a very high pitch to do it, but it's possible. If everybody's rolling on the ground clutching their ears, they can't very well shoot you, can they? Consider another application: attach motion sensors to very LOUD sound systems along the border. The Border Patrol could then just drive along, picking up the whimpering, cringing intruders and hustling them back across the border. You'd end up with a large number of deaf people after awhile (the auditory nerve can only take so much), but it would end your illegal alien problem. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2004-3-4 12:03:31 AM |
| #8 Certain noises, projected at the right pitch, can incapacitate even a stone-deaf terrorist; the bones in your head are brutalized by a tone's full effect whether you're clutching the sides of your skull in agony or not. What? What? Oma Gooma Again? What? No really you'll like it, there's nothing funnier that McArthurs farewell speech, yes it's vinyl. |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-3 8:01:26 PM |
| #7 Actually Steve, if this technology works as advertised, no amount of hearing protection will prevent you from being disabled. The NYT Magazine had a story about six months ago on this product and it's inventor Woody Norris in which it explained that military variant can output a sound that is so devastating and concentrated that even with hearing protection your BONES will vibrate to the point of disability (temporary). That's why the Navy was so interested because it could knock out guys in a boat, no matter how hard they try to protect their ears, without killing innocent sailors or destroying the boat. http://www.woodynorris.com/Articles/NewYorkTimesMagazine.htm For the moment, though, HSS is unfinished business. As night must follow day, there are Defense Department applications. Norris and A.T.C. have been busy honing something called High Intensity Directed Acoustics (HIDA, in house jargon). It is directional sound -- an offshoot of HSS -- but one that never, ever transmits Handel or waterfall sounds. Although the technology thus far has been routinely referred to as a "nonlethal weapon," the Pentagon now prefers to stress the friendlier-sounding "hailing intruders" function. In reality, HIDA is both warning and weapon. If used from a battleship, it can ward off stray crafts at 500 yards with a pinpointed verbal warning. Should the offending vessel continue to within 200 yards, the stern warnings are replaced by 120-decibel sounds that are as physically disabling as shrapnel. Certain noises, projected at the right pitch, can incapacitate even a stone-deaf terrorist; the bones in your head are brutalized by a tone's full effect whether you're clutching the sides of your skull in agony or not. "Besides," Norris says, laughing darkly, "grabbing your ears is as good as a pair of handcuffs." |
| Posted by: RMcLeod 2004-3-3 7:47:11 PM |
| #6 Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, International Jihadi Solidarity Council (okay, I made that up) releasing a statement condemning this in 5...4...3..2... |
| Posted by: Carl in N.H 2004-3-3 6:36:03 PM |
| #5 Dr. Bose joins the war effort? |
| Posted by: Shipman 2004-3-3 5:29:59 PM |
| #4 I can see this being useful against crowds, but not so effective against a small boat manned by whacky jihadis with ear protectors. I wonder if it works better than the Phalanx CIWS which emits ear-splitting beams of 20mm projectiles? |
| Posted by: SteveS 2004-3-3 3:47:36 PM |
| #3 Finally, i have been reading articles about this technology since 1985, i had given up hope that those things would ever come online. |
| Posted by: Evert Visser 2004-3-3 3:08:06 PM |
| #2 sounds like a seriously modified sky satilite dish, a really top system by the 'sound' of it. Anyone know if the 'Active Denial System' the article spoke about is the device that uses microwave beams to heat up peoples skin in the beam area, kinda like being slowly cooked in the microwave - that can't be to nice. |
| Posted by: Jon Shep U.K 2004-3-3 2:11:21 PM |
| #1 i wonder if it act like the brown noise. |
| Posted by: muck4doo 2004-3-3 1:50:00 PM |