Post by swamprat on Oct 1, 2017 11:44:29 GMT -6
Weird stuff the military is working on, or has worked on...... (Not including all the "secret" stuff...)
Eye-blinding rifle
This weapon won't kill you; it will just blind you with its bedazzling laser beam. The PHASR, or personnel halting and stimulation response rifle, is essentially the equivalent of a gazillion laser pointers aimed at the eyes, designed to lead to only temporary blindness. The goal is to blind criminals or others who mean harm for long enough that they can be apprehended. However, the PHASR has one problem: The United Nations banned blinding weapons in 1995, according to an addendum to the Geneva Conventions.
Laser-induced plasma channel
Move over Thor — the military has stolen your thunder (and lightning). Engineers at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey have figured out a way to harness the power of lightning, designing a weapon that shoots lightning bolts along laser beams to kill targets. The laser-induced plasma channel, as it's called, is aimed at targets that conduct electricity better than the air or the ground, according to a press release. The laser light, with its high intensity and energy, focuses the lightning bolt to keep it along a straight and narrow path, so it can be precisely aimed at a target, according to the release.
Pulsed energy projectile
The pulsed energy projectile is yet another nonlethal weapon under development by the U.S. military. The goal? Fire a laser at people to create a little pocket of exploding plasma in the air around them. This would hypothetically create a pressure wave to knock out the person, also producing painful nerve sensations, according to Globalsecurity.org.
Kill-proof human soldiers
One way to make a deadlier fighting force is to create an invincible one. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been working on projects to make soldiers "unkillable," or more able to survive assaults, maintain endurance for long periods and withstand extreme environmental challenges. One project, called Inner Armor, looked at the genetic adaptations that allow other species, such as harbor seals and archaeobacteria, to travel for days without stopping, survive underwater with little oxygen, or recover from radioactive or chemical weapons without getting sick. The goal? Either manipulate neural pathways or give people special "vitamins" that could protect against such assaults, according to a 2007 presentation on the project.
Gay bombs
In 2005, the Pentagon confirmed that military leaders had once been interested in a chemical weapon that could make enemy troops sexually irresistible to each other, according to Military.com. The Air Force Wright Lab received $7.5 million dollars in 1994 to develop a weapon that would harness a hormone naturally present in the body in low quantities. When enemy soldiers breathed it in or absorb it in their skin, the idea went, they would become irresistibly attracted to each other. Not surprisingly, many people found the idea offensive and impractical.
Invisibility cloaks
In 2016, the U.S. put out a call for proposals to create invisible uniforms, which would cloak wearers from all angles and in all terrains. It's not clear how far that project got, but the idea of cloaking an object to be invisible at certain wavelengths isn't that outlandish. In 2006, scientists showed it was possible to bend light around objects made of certain materials, known as metamaterials, effectively rendering them invisible at certain wavelengths. And in 2015, a scientist said he had invented a ceramic, ultrathin material that was invisible at many wavelengths, the Army Times reported. The idea of making something effectively invisible isn't totally new: Stealth bombers already use a special coating that makes them nearly invisible to radar and infrared and hard to see in the visible light spectrum.
Pain rays
When it comes to weapons, what doesn't kill you can still make you hurt very, very badly. The U.S. military has been working actively on a nonlethal weapon called an "active denial system," aka, the pain ray. This ray zaps people with radio waves that heat up tissue, creating a painful burn. The objective? Keep suspicious people away from military bases without having to kill the individuals, according to Wired. The current iteration is used only on mounted vehicles, but the military said it hopes to miniaturize the weapon. In 2012, ABC7 reported that a similar version of the pain ray was being tested on inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Center in Los Angeles, intended as a tool to break up prisoner fights.
SOURCE: LiveScience
Eye-blinding rifle
This weapon won't kill you; it will just blind you with its bedazzling laser beam. The PHASR, or personnel halting and stimulation response rifle, is essentially the equivalent of a gazillion laser pointers aimed at the eyes, designed to lead to only temporary blindness. The goal is to blind criminals or others who mean harm for long enough that they can be apprehended. However, the PHASR has one problem: The United Nations banned blinding weapons in 1995, according to an addendum to the Geneva Conventions.
Laser-induced plasma channel
Move over Thor — the military has stolen your thunder (and lightning). Engineers at the Picatinny Arsenal in New Jersey have figured out a way to harness the power of lightning, designing a weapon that shoots lightning bolts along laser beams to kill targets. The laser-induced plasma channel, as it's called, is aimed at targets that conduct electricity better than the air or the ground, according to a press release. The laser light, with its high intensity and energy, focuses the lightning bolt to keep it along a straight and narrow path, so it can be precisely aimed at a target, according to the release.
Pulsed energy projectile
The pulsed energy projectile is yet another nonlethal weapon under development by the U.S. military. The goal? Fire a laser at people to create a little pocket of exploding plasma in the air around them. This would hypothetically create a pressure wave to knock out the person, also producing painful nerve sensations, according to Globalsecurity.org.
Kill-proof human soldiers
One way to make a deadlier fighting force is to create an invincible one. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has long been working on projects to make soldiers "unkillable," or more able to survive assaults, maintain endurance for long periods and withstand extreme environmental challenges. One project, called Inner Armor, looked at the genetic adaptations that allow other species, such as harbor seals and archaeobacteria, to travel for days without stopping, survive underwater with little oxygen, or recover from radioactive or chemical weapons without getting sick. The goal? Either manipulate neural pathways or give people special "vitamins" that could protect against such assaults, according to a 2007 presentation on the project.
Gay bombs
In 2005, the Pentagon confirmed that military leaders had once been interested in a chemical weapon that could make enemy troops sexually irresistible to each other, according to Military.com. The Air Force Wright Lab received $7.5 million dollars in 1994 to develop a weapon that would harness a hormone naturally present in the body in low quantities. When enemy soldiers breathed it in or absorb it in their skin, the idea went, they would become irresistibly attracted to each other. Not surprisingly, many people found the idea offensive and impractical.
Invisibility cloaks
In 2016, the U.S. put out a call for proposals to create invisible uniforms, which would cloak wearers from all angles and in all terrains. It's not clear how far that project got, but the idea of cloaking an object to be invisible at certain wavelengths isn't that outlandish. In 2006, scientists showed it was possible to bend light around objects made of certain materials, known as metamaterials, effectively rendering them invisible at certain wavelengths. And in 2015, a scientist said he had invented a ceramic, ultrathin material that was invisible at many wavelengths, the Army Times reported. The idea of making something effectively invisible isn't totally new: Stealth bombers already use a special coating that makes them nearly invisible to radar and infrared and hard to see in the visible light spectrum.
Pain rays
When it comes to weapons, what doesn't kill you can still make you hurt very, very badly. The U.S. military has been working actively on a nonlethal weapon called an "active denial system," aka, the pain ray. This ray zaps people with radio waves that heat up tissue, creating a painful burn. The objective? Keep suspicious people away from military bases without having to kill the individuals, according to Wired. The current iteration is used only on mounted vehicles, but the military said it hopes to miniaturize the weapon. In 2012, ABC7 reported that a similar version of the pain ray was being tested on inmates at the Pitchess Detention Center's North County Correctional Center in Los Angeles, intended as a tool to break up prisoner fights.
SOURCE: LiveScience