Most of us think of heat ray guns as something from science fiction. The United States Government, however, has been developing the modern day equivalent over the past decade, officially referred to as the Active Denial System or ADS. The non-lethal weapon system that has been under development by the United States government through the United States Marine Corps led, Joint Non-Lethal Weapons. When the heat ray gun, or ADS targets an individual or a group of individuals, it creates a sudden burning sensation to encourage a change in behavior to include dispersing a crowd or stopping an unknown, approaching individual.
How Does the Heat Ray Gun Work?
The ADS or heat ray gun was first tested for the press in 2007. It fires a microwave beam from a large rectangular dish that is mounted on a vehicle. In the case of the public test, it was atop a Humvee vehicle. The range of the demonstrated weapon was approximately 550 yards or 500 meters, providing an effective increase in range over similar non-lethal weapons such as rubber bullets. The heat ray or microwave beam can penetrate clothing, and suddenly heats the skin of targeted individuals to 50 degree Centigrade. During the public test, a Reuters journalist volunteered to be shot with the heat ray and passed that the feeling was similar to getting blasted with an extremely hot oven and was to painful to bear without moving for cover.
What is the Future for Heat Ray Guns?
The publicly stated research goals for the ADS and other similar technologies is to continue to develop smaller and more effective non-lethal technologies to help warfighters have effective options to achieve missions in the field that do not include shooting their primary weapons. The primary goal being to minimize the civilian loss of life in conflicts that fall short of total war while still keeping soldiers and sailors safe in the field and on the sea. Conspiracy theorists speculate what the lethal research options in the field might entail, and if there will be lethal options developed in secret for the heat ray gun by friendly or non-friendly forces. Although not developed yet, its not a far reach to see weapons similar to laser guns from SciFi thrillers deployed in the next few decades that make use of microwave technologies in development now for the ADS or other systems.