WIRED:Since the start of the war, American military leaders have been begging for a pain ray, to help them control Iraq's unruly crowds. Now: Never mind.
U.S. forces in the field have made formal requests over and over again for the so-called "Active Denial System" -- which stimulates pain receptors with a microwave beam. Officials at the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate, for their part, kept saying that ADS was ready to go, technically. Last August, Directorate chief Col. Kirk Hymes promised that "the system now is there and ready for the warfighters." He estimated the pain ray would see action in "six to 10 months," max. The previous October, he swore that ADS would be in Iraq by the end of calendar year 2008.
Hymes was waiting for another official request from U.S. Central Command. But it never came. And now, "the tactical situation is such that there is not an urgent need/mission," Directorate spokesperson Kelley Hughes tells InsideDefense.com.
Wouldn't it be nice to just turn up in a convoy heading northeast from Quetta, and southwest from Swat along the byways streaming discomfort while we search a few compounds ..and, why, discover who knows what, without using reapers to kill whatever target we have the temerity to involve based on a computer score?
Well, duh. American forces have worked hard to amassing good will in Iraq. Which commander is going to take the risk of blowing it with a battle-virgin invisible pain ray? ADS may not be intended to be a torture machine. But how else is it going to be perceived, if Americans start microwaving people alive?
Plus, the technical kinks still are completely hammered out. So, in the meantime, the Directorate has launched a series of studies into making the pain beam tougher, smaller, and more powerful.
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