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U.S. Military Develops Microwave Weapon

posted by janrinok on Monday April 30 2018, @10:28PM   Printer-friendly

An Anonymous Coward writes:

Popular Mechanics reports

Pioneered by the defence department's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program (JNLWD), the new direct energy weapon has the ability to stop a cart in its tracks without harming the vehicle or its driver.

"The jammer works by targeting the car's engine control unit causing it to reboot over and over, stalling the engine. Like an invisible hand, the microwaves hold the car in place." David Law, who leads JNLWD's technology division, said in March: "Anything that has electronics on it, these high-powered microwaves will affect. As long as the [radio] is on, it holds the vehicle stopped."

[...] "The RFVS system uses high-power magnetron tubes to generate intense RF pulses that interfere with a vehicle's electronics, rendering it temporarily inoperable. The engine cannot be restarted while the RF is on but is readily restarted once the RF is turned off. Thus, the RFVS system allows for the maintenance of a safe keep-out zone in situations that might otherwise require the use of lethal force. The defined measure of success for this system is a demonstrated, effective capability against more than 80% of the candidate target-vehicle-class list, which includes passenger cars and large vehicles."

A video shows demonstrations of the weapon against cars and boats.

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 30 2018, @10:45PM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 30 2018, @10:45PM (#673957)

    You can always say he was a Muslim terrorist.

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  • (Score: 2) by Mykl on Monday April 30 2018, @11:22PM

    by Mykl (1112) on Monday April 30 2018, @11:22PM (#673968)

    Parent jokes, but this weapon does seem prone to collateral damage along the same lines as a carpet-bombing run.

    I would hope that use of this does not become standard for preventative scenarios (e.g. 24/7 usage around 'strategic assets' or events like marathon run courses). The possibility of unintended consequences such as pacemaker interference (well, maybe not at the marathon, but still) is high.

  • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:35AM

    by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:35AM (#674498) Homepage Journal

    Dick Cheney has a Pacemaker. Very hard to say that about him. It's not hard to say. But it sounds very foolish!!