New laser weapon is easier on the eyes
U.S. soldiers manning checkpoints in Iraq and Afghanistan are now equipped with lasers which temporarily blind drivers of vehicles speeding toward the check point; earlier lasers at times injured U.S. soldiers
The Pentagon is working on a laser dazzler that will force drivers to stop without harming their eyes. When a vehicle approaches a checkpoint at speed, ignoring warning signs to slow down, troops do not know whether the driver is simply careless or a suicide bomber. They need a clear and harmless way of forcing drivers to stop.
New Scientist reports that green laser dazzlers designed temporarily to blind drivers were sent to U.S. forces in Iraq and Afghanistan for just this purpose. At short range, however, they can damage the eye, and a number of US troops and civilians have ended up in hospital with eye injuries after “friendly fire” incidents.
Now the U.S. Department of Defense’s Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia is developing a pulsed laser designed to prevent eye damage. Its wavelength means a portion of the light is absorbed by the vehicle windscreen, vaporising the outer layer of the glass and producing a plasma. This absorbs the rest of the pulse and re-emits the energy as a brilliant white light that is dazzling but harmless.
Because the light is emitted from the windscreen, the effect on the driver’s eyes should be the same regardless of the vehicle’s distance from the laser.
Scott Griffiths of the JNLWD says it hopes to have a working prototype ready by next year.
