SONIC WEAPON IN IRAQ

“U.S. sol­diers in Iraq have new gear for dis­pers­ing hos­tile crowds and ward­ing off poten­tial enemy com­bat­ants,” the Associated Press reports. “It blasts ear­split­ting noise in a directed beam. ”

The equip­ment, called a Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a so-​​called “non-​​lethal weapon” devel­oped after the 2000 attack on the USS Cole off Yemen as a way to keep oper­a­tors of small boats from approach­ing U.S. war­ships.
The devices have been used on some U.S. ships since last sum­mer as part of a suite of pro­tec­tion mea­sures.
Now, the Army and Marines have added this audi­tory bar­rage dis­penser to their arms ensem­bles… Some of the Iraq-​​bound devices will be used by mem­bers of the 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, both recently deployed to the west­ern province of Al Anbar, a largely bar­ren, pre­dom­i­nantly Sunni Muslim area. 

March 3rd, 2004 | Less-lethal | Comments Off Both comments and pings are currently closed.