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

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.


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  • (Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 30 2018, @11:13PM (12 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Monday April 30 2018, @11:13PM (#673965)

    We can use this, and the similar Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, to stop people near the border.

    Stop the cars far from the border, making them walk, then make them miserable with the beams.

    At the actual border, we stop sheep with electric fences. That ought to work.

    It beats the alternatives, which generally require ammo. Not that it wouldn't be hilarious to see them step on landmines, but that is messy and costly. (BOOM! Oh look, more burrito filling!)

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  • (Score: 1) by khallow on Tuesday May 01 2018, @01:15AM

    by khallow (3766) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 01 2018, @01:15AM (#673984) Journal

    It beats the alternatives, which generally require ammo. Not that it wouldn't be hilarious to see them step on landmines, but that is messy and costly. (BOOM! Oh look, more burrito filling!)

    Boomstick comedy.

  • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:12AM (8 children)

    by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:12AM (#674002) Journal

    Have you ever been to the border? San Ysidro, or Laredo, or El Paso, or any of the other crossings have cities sitting on either side of the border. In many cases, a neighbor on one side of the border can throw a rock at his neighbor's house on the other side.

    Your idea might work out alright out in the countryside. You simply can't turn a beam like this on in the middle of a city. It would look like a war zone, very quickly. And, I sure as hell wouldn't want to be the guy at the controls when the mob figured out what was happening.

    If this thing were deployed as part of an Army regiment, fine. Just add ten of them to the regiment's equipment list, and send them to the border. But, don't forget - anything that the army owns will be shut down if it gets in front of the active beam.

    Whooops! Maybe we should invest in some old timey weapons, like rifles, sharp sticks, bombs and grenades that require no electronics, maybe some rocks . . .

    • (Score: 1) by suburbanitemediocrity on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:34AM (2 children)

      by suburbanitemediocrity (6844) on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:34AM (#674010)

      microwaves are already present in cities.

      https://markosun.files.wordpress.com/2013/07/bt0.jpg [wordpress.com]

      • (Score: 3, Informative) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:39AM

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:39AM (#674012) Journal

        There are a lot of radio waves present in all cities. Weaponizing them isn't commonly approved of.

      • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:42AM

        by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:42AM (#674499) Homepage Journal

        They tried them in McDonald's. And it was a big mistake, their buns were all rubbery. Disgusting! But this microwave is very special. Because it's got HIGH POWER. Enough power to cook a car!!!

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:38AM (4 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @04:38AM (#674039)

      Even 35 years ago, the border was a disgusting place. Everything near it badly needed bulldozing. Things have only gotten worse.

      There should not be a city on our side. Eminent domain would take care of the houses. We need at least a couple miles of restricted federal land, with deadly force authorized.

      Army equipment is not vulnerable. Army equipment is specified to operate on a nuclear battlefield, with massive electromagnetic pulses destroying all civilian equipment.

      • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:36AM

        by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:36AM (#674069)

        You forgot to end your post with "Text TRUMP to 88022"...

      • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:38PM (2 children)

        by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Tuesday May 01 2018, @02:38PM (#674145) Journal

        DUUUUUDE! I'm an American citizen. I go pretty much wherever I want to go. And, that includes the border! Some of the best food in the world is found within a couple miles of the border!

        How 'bout we just put the wall up. Twenty or thirty feet high, and fifty or sixty feet thick with paved surface on top. Then, we put the Rat Patrol on top. Back and forth they go, with machine guns mounted, and read to go. I'll give you a couple hundred yards setback, to be sure anyone we shoot is on US soil. But, forget that two miles bullshit.

        • (Score: 2) by realDonaldTrump on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:48AM (1 child)

          by realDonaldTrump (6614) on Wednesday May 02 2018, @08:48AM (#674500) Homepage Journal

          Believe me, we're building the Wall. We’re getting that sucker BUILT!! And it's a thing of beauty. pic.twitter.com/pmCNoxxlkH [t.co]

          • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:40PM

            by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday May 02 2018, @02:40PM (#674576) Journal

            a thing of beauty

            And, you don't know your ass from a hole in the ground. I can go through that POS in about three minutes, without any help. You should go visit China and see what a wall looks like. High, solid, wide, with troops on top - THAT is a wall. Our wall should be a minimum of 20 ft high, and 25 ft wide, with a paved surface, so that vehicles can patrol, and pass each other without slowing down.

            I thought you were supposed to be some kind of real estate mogul? You call some flimsy-assed wrought iron crap a "wall"? Are you sure you're not some kinda liberal progressive?

  • (Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:33AM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @07:33AM (#674067)

    It beats the alternatives, which generally require ammo.

    They say that about every "non-lethal" weapon. In the end, the lethal ones gets used just as much, and the "non-lethal" ones end up replacing something less harmful.

    Tasers are replacing handcuffs, not guns, and this will probably end up replacing road closed signs.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @09:22AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 01 2018, @09:22AM (#674084)

      The issue is cost and possibly maintenance. Ammo costs money. Guns need frequent cleaning. Landmines need to be replaced.

      It mostly doesn't matter if the tool is lethal or not. It just needs to stop the invasion. Lethal causes debris (bodies), which can be a biohazard. On the other hand, lethal means they don't try again, and it reduces the population. It's a wash. Either will do.

      The goal is to be efficient and effective.