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Microwaving The Mob
American military technologists have demonstrated a new 'heat ray' weapon, designed to control riots.
The new weapon shoots a microwave beam from a vehicle-mounted dish to ranges far exceeding those of normal crowd control methods such as rubber bullets and water cannons: The media saw the beam targeted from nearly 500 metres at a demonstration recently.
Its creators in the United States' department of defence say that their victims may feel like their skin is burning, but there will be no lasting effects. One could use the term: 'Microwave the mobs'.
A British journalist who was on the business end of the device told the Daily Mail: "It is like being hit from a very hot oven, and is too painful to bear."
Apart from potential uses in the United States - and not all on journalists, we imagine - the 'V-MADS', (Vehicle Mounted Active Denial System) may be deployed in Afghanistan and Iraq.
British intelligence sources say this 'invisible ray gun' has been developed in places such as Ohio and the southern state of Georgia. But no one will say for sure.
There may a downside, however (There always is.) If the V-MADS is pointed at your eyes, you may be blinded.
This new weapon is to be mounted on a Humvee, which is America's version of a big-size, super-Land Rover.
It has been contructed at the cost of nearly $40 million, (£20 million, or 29.6 million euros.)
As if to add an extra touch of explanation for foreign correspondents, US Marine Colonel Kirk Hymes, director of the 'non-lethal weapons programme', says: "This is one the key technologies of the future."
