Tesla Rifle Article, CNN/AP

["Tesla list" <tesla-at-pupman-dot-com>]

Original poster: "Harold Weiss" <hweiss-at-new.rr-dot-com> 

Hi All,

Here's the article:

A few months from now, Peter Anthony Schiesinger hopes to zap a laser beam 
at a couple of chickens or other anmials in a cage a few dozen yards away.

If all goes as planned, the chickens will be frozen in mid-cluck, their leg 
and wing muscles paralyzed by an electrical charge created by the beam, 
even as their heart and lungs function normally.

Among those most interested in the outcome will be officials at the 
Pentagon, who hwlped fund Schlesinger's work and are looking at this type 
of device to do a lot more than just zap a chicken.

Devices like these, known as directed-energy weapons, could be used to 
fight wars in comming years.

"When you can do things at the speed of light, all sorts of new 
capabilities are there," said Delores Etter, a former undersecretary of 
defense for science and technology and an advocate of directed-energy weapons.

Directed energy could bring numerous advantages to the battlefield in 
places like Afghanistan, where U.S. troops have had to deal with hostile 
but unarmed crowds as well as dangerous insurgents.

Aside from paralyzing potential attackers or noncombatents like a long 
range stun gun, directed-energy weapons could fry the electronics of 
missiles and roadside bombs, developers say, or even disable a vehicle in a 
high speed chase.

(Note: My 6" coil can stop a Ford Focus at 200' )

The most ambitious program is the Air Force's Airborne Laser, a plan to 
mount a lasre on a modified Boeing 747 and use it to shoot down missiles.

(This is already flying, but don't know how testing is going.)

At the same Air Force Research Laboratory in New Mexico, researchers 
working with Raytheon Co. have developed a weapon called the Active Denial 
System, which repels adversaries by heating the water molecules in their 
skin with microwave energy.  The pain is so great that people flee immediately.

( Take apart your microwave!  And don't look down the waveguide with your 
remaining good eye! )

"It feels like your skin is on fire," said Rich Garcia, a spokesman for the 
laboratory who, as a test subject, has felt the Active Denial System's 
heat.  "When you get out of the path of the beam, or shut off the beam, 
everything goes back to normal.  There's no residual pain."

A Humvee-mounted Active Denial weapon is expected to be given to all 
services by the end of this year for evaluation, with a decision about 
deployment by the end of 2005.

But the idea of using directed energy against humans is creating debate 
fueled by deaths allegedly caused by Taser stun guns and the alleged abuse 
of Iraqi prisoners -- which put the military's respect for human rights 
under a microscope.

Some experts believe the use of directed energy will be limited by 
international law and treaties.

"Although it seems like it would be more desireable to disable than to kill 
them, the problem is there are all sorts of treaties in place that limit 
how you can disable noncombatants," said Loren Thompson of the Lexington 
Institute, a defense think tank.  "It's kind of perverse, but sometimes the 
backlog of old laws can get in the way of being humane."

Military officials believe the intended uses of the Active Denial System do 
not violate any international laws or treaties and do not cause any 
permanent health problems.

"You can rest assured that with this system, when it finally is deployed, 
we will be very, very clear about what the intended uses are and what is 
clearly outside of bounds," said Marine Corps Capt. Daniel McSweeney, 
spokesman for the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate.  " It's not 
intended to be used as a torture device.  That goes against all the design 
intentions and parameters."

Research into side effects weaponized directed energy began in the late 
1990s at the Air Force Brooks City-Base in San Antonio.  Researchers began 
by reviewing studies of radio-frequency energy involved in military 
communications, radar and other technologies, officials say.

Human testing of the Active Denial System began after researchers concluded 
it could be used without permanent harm.  More than 200 volunteers -- 
including some in their 70s -- from various military branches and 
government agencies were zapped with the system, on average about three 
times each.

The results showed no lingering health problems, officials say.

"This type of device doesn't penetrate very far," said Lt. Col. William 
Roach, chief of the radio frequency branch of the Air Force Research 
Laboratory.

But the fact that the studies on directed energy's human effects haven't 
been released to the public has some outside the government worried.

Dominique Loye of the international Committe of the Red Cross has pleaded 
for more disclosure of directed-energy research and independent 
investigation into possible side effects.

Directed energy may cause "new types of injuries we're not aware of and may 
not be capable of taking care of," Loye said.  " the message we try to put 
across is: 'We understand some companies are investing money,  so maybe it 
will be worthwhile for you to start the investigation as early as possible 
and not to invest millions and millions and then 10 years down the line 
find out your weapon will be illegal.'"

The weapon's developers, on the other hand, pitch them for their lifesaving 
potential.

The pinpoint accuracy of a laser could eliminate collateral damage caused 
by missile explosions, the argument goes, and stun gun-like weapons could 
save lives in hostage or bomb-threat situations.  Directed energy also has 
the potential to explode roadside bombs or mines from a distance.

"You're dealing with the ability to pre-detonate the majority of improvised 
explosives that are used right now," said Peter Bitar, president of Xtreme 
Alternative Defense Systems, an Anderson, Ind., company that is developing 
a rifle-sized directed-energy gun for the Marines.

The device works by creating an electrical charge through a stream of 
ionized gas, or plasma.

Bitar says it could be tuned to target the electronics of a vehicle or 
explosive device, or tuned to temporarily paralyze voluntary muscles, such 
as those that control arms and legs.  The involuntary muscles, like the 
heart and lungs, operate at a different frequency.

So far, this and a handful of similar weapons are only in the prototype 
stage.  Production models, if approved by the military, would not be ready 
for a few years.

The device being developed by Schlesinger's company, HSV Technologies Inc. 
of San Diego, will operate similarly to Bitar's, except the electrical 
charge will be created by an ultraviolet laser beam, rather than 
plasma.  He, too, says the device is designed for non-lethal purposes only.

"Later on, as certain agencies or law enforcement gets involved in this, 
and they see the need for lethality, I'm sure that can be developed later," 
Schlesinger said.  "It could induce cardiac arrest, for example.  But that 
is not our patent, and not ouw intent."

Still, that potential is sure to make opponents of directed energy skeptical.

"It's encouraging that the U.S. is searching for more humane weapons," said 
the Lexington Institute's Thompson.  "But it's hard to convince other 
countries that our goals are ethical."

AP

Well that's the article and what they're up to.

David E Weiss