The US military continues to develop and deploy non-lethal weapon systems like the directed energy weapon from Raytheon. The latest system to come to light is the Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) that focuses sound waves into a beam that induces unbearable pain in anyone it strikes:
Anyone whose head was touched by this beam, heard a painfully loud sound. Anyone standing next to them heard nothing. But those hit by the beam promptly fled, or fell to the ground in pain.
It turns out that the device also functions as a pretty effective psychological operations (PSYOPS) tool:
LRAD can also broadcast speech for up to 300 meters. The navy planned to use LRAD to warn ships to get out of the way. This was needed in places like the crowded coastal waters of the northern Persian Gulf, where the navy patrols. Many small fishing and cargo boats ply these waters, and it’s often hard to get the attention of the crews. With LRAD, you just aim it at a member of the crew, and have an interpreter “speak” to the sailor. It was noted that the guy on the receiving end was sometimes terrified, even after he realized it was that large American destroyer that was talking to him. This apparently gave the army guys some ideas, for there are now rumors in Iraq of a devilish American weapon that makes people believe they are hearing voices in their heads…
It appears that some of the troops in Iraq are using “spoken” (as opposed to “screeching”) LRAD to mess with enemy fighters. Islamic terrorists tend to be superstitious and, of course, very religious. LRAD can put the “word of God” into their heads. If God, in the form of a voice that only you can hear, tells you to surrender, or run away, what are you gonna do?
That’s the system invented by the prolific Woody Norris (Elwood G. Norris when he’s at conferences). A quick Search turns up his HyperSonic system, and there’s a note somewhere that the system was successfully used to repel pirates from a US ship.
Here’s another note about using it for directed advertising – like from off a billboard onto a street:
Hypersonic sound advertising
The principle is simple: two ultrasonic beams, on fixed at (probably) 40kHz, the other a 40 kHz FM signal. Your ears put the two together. Norris figured out how to make the beams highly directional.
There’s a good in-depth article in Make magazine:
Woody’s World
I wanted them to use it at the border, to encourage people to go away, but so far, nobody’s listening to that.
There’a a blog dealing with advertising issues. They are extremely annoyed by that use of this.
I will be doing research to abuse this technology to get nakid girls into my bed.
That guy is my hero.