Life Imitating Art

[Occhidiangela]

Star Trick.

Lasers are in the news, some going places and some not. The Silver Bullet Crowd looks to be losing the 747 based Laser, due to cost 5 billion between now and 2009 and still not fielded. White House asked DoD to cut it.

About time. Some "bright ideas" are just bad.

"We will hit the Ballistic Missiles in boost phase (measured in seconds) with a long range laser beam mounted on a 747." Right, lasers can ignore simple physics and be used regardless of the weather/environment. (No, they can't) That Silver Bullet foolishness has been getting money for over 10 years. :angry: The Emperor's nudity is at last exposed, or no longer indulged. Huzzah.

In the kinder, gentler world of "non lethal weapons" the Air Force are trying to make Gene Rodenberry's fiction a reality. We already have communicators, cell phones with speaker phone capability, and now apparently a Phaser.

Security Guard A: "Set Phaser's to stun!"
Security Guard B: "Oh crap, he's wearing sun glasses!"
Security Guard A: "Get out the Colt Python . . . "
Security Guard B: "He's buggered off!"
Bravely bold Intruder, ran off to try again
He was wearing Ray Ban LEPs
Sty-lish Intruder!
He was not in the least bit scared
To be filled with hot, hot lead
Bold Bold Brave Brave Intruder . . .

"Curioser and curioser," said Alice.

New York Daily News  December 1, 2005
Capt. Kirk Might Beam At Gun
U.S. adds hi-tech dazzler
By Derek Rose, Daily News Staff Writer

Air Force researchers have developed a nonlethal laser ray gun that sounds like something straight out of Capt. Kirk's arsenal.

Dubbed the PHaSR - for Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response - the rifle-sized weapon temporarily "dazzles" its target with a bright beam of light.

"We picked the PHaSR name to help sell the program," admitted program manager Capt. Thomas Wegner of the Air Force Research Laboratory's Directed Energy Directorate. "It's an obvious homage to 'Star Trek.' "

In that sci-fi series, the crew of the starship Enterprise, including Capt. James T. Kirk, carried hand-held phaser weapons that could vaporize or stun an opponent.

All these phasers can do is disorient a subject.

"It's like shining a flashlight in your eyes," Wegner said. "Or when you wake up in the morning, and the eyes have to adjust to the light. It's the same sensation."

The PHaSR could be used for checkpoint control, or by civilian law enforcement, officials said. The National Institute of Justice has provided a $250,000 grant.

"This is truly a nonlethal weapon," Wegner said. "Pepper spray is considered nonlethal, but you can die from pepper spray. This is truly nonlethal, and nonpermanent."

Military lawyers are reviewing the weapon to ensure it complies with the Geneva Convention, which forbids using laser weapons that cause "permanent blindness."

"This does not blind you," Wegner said. "To me, blinding is permanent. We dazzle, and that is temporary." The effect fades within seconds after the laser is removed, he said.

Other laser systems have been developed before, including the rifle-mounted Sabre 203 system, which had a range of up to 300 yards. A Sabre 203 was taken into Somalia - but not used - when Marines entered in 1995. But the Sabre was scrapped over concerns it could cause permanent blindness.

If a decision is made to go forward with the project, the ray guns could be in the hands of soldiers and cops within three to five years, Wegner said.

And what would Capt. Kirk think of the PHaSR?

"He would think it's rather primitive," Wegner said. "But for us, it's pretty high tech."

Occhi