Next Generation Stun Guns?

RoyalCheese writes "Well, I've just been reading an interesting little article on New Scientist's website about new crowd control weapons that electrocute/stun the targets. Seems we will soon be at risk of being stunned by ionised air generated by laptop sized lasers..." Reader Spetiam adds "News.com.au reports on a new weapon that will be able to zap you from afar, wires not included: 'We will be able to fire a stream of electricity like water out of a hose at one or many targets in a single sweep,' XADS [Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems] president Peter Bitar is quoted as saying." So, this company has a free-hosting website and and a free-email address for their "president", and the photo looks like cardboard tubes wrapped with green camouflage tape. Hmmmm.

Comments

How it works

[dr. loser]

Clever idea. The gadget apparently uses a pulsed solid-state UV laser to ionize a channel in the air between the shooter and the target. The plasma is a much lower resistance path than the un-ionized air, and so the discharge from the gun follows the plasma to the target and then to ground. Interestingly, at high enough intensities laser pulses like that can be self-focusing (pdf) .

Of course, you still need to hike around a whopping big capacitor bank to have this work over any reasonable distance, and the repeat rate of fire would probably be lousy since the capacitors would have to be recharged....

Googled

[LightwaveNet]

Meanwhile, Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), based in
Anderson, Indiana, will be one of the first companies to market
another type of wireless weapon. Instead of using fibres, the $9000
Close Quarters Shock Rifle projects an ionised gas, or plasma,
towards the target, producing a conducting channel. It will also
interfere with electronic ignition systems and stop vehicles.

"We will be able to fire a stream of electricity like water out of
a hose at one or many targets in a single sweep," claims XADS
president Peter Bitar.

Solid-state lasers

The gun has been designed for the US Marine Corps to use for crowd
control and security purposes and is due out in 2005. It is based
on early, unwieldy technology and has a range of only three metres,
but an operator can debilitate multiple targets by sweeping it
across them for "as long as there is an input power source," says
Bitar.

XADS is also planning a more advanced weapon which it hopes will
have a range of 100 metres or more. Instead of firing ionised gas,
it will probably use a powerful laser to ionise the air itself. The
idea has been around for decades, says LaVerne Schlie, a laser
expert at the US Air Force Research Lab in Kirtland, New Mexico.
It has only become practical with advances in high-power solid-state
lasers.

"Before, it took a laser about the size of two trucks," says Schlie.
"Now we can do it with something that fits on a tabletop."

The laser pulse must be very intense, but can be brief. So the
makers of the weapons plan to use a UV laser to fire a 5-joule pulse
lasting just 0.4 picoseconds - equating to a momentary power of
more than 10 million megawatts.

This intense pulse - which is said not to harm the eyes - ionises
the air, producing long, thread-like filaments of glowing plasma
that can be sustained by repeating the pulse every few milliseconds.
This plasma channel is then used to deliver a shock to the victims
similar to a Taser's 50,000-volt, 26-watt shock.

If Google is to be believed....

[LondonLawyer]

Pete Bitar, Vice President, has owned three companies, which he started, successfully operated, and sold or licensed off two of them for a profit. His education includes a Bachelor of Science in Business through the University Honors Program at Portland State University. Currently, Mr. Bitar is the President of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems (XADS), a defense contractor, currently doing work with the Marine Corps on two SBIR Phase II research and development projects in the field of electronics and non-lethal weapon systems. Mr. Bitar brings defense contract acquisition and management experience to the team. He has a number of connections in a variety of fields, including aviation, aerospace, publishing, plastics, real estate, economic development, electronics, weapons research, and finance. Mr. Bitar has over 12 years of management experience, and has been successfully self-employed for more than half of his career. He also has over 18 years of pilot experience in a wide variety of aircraft.

Source: http://www.americanaviationcompany.com/staff.htm

Still sounds dubious to me. The picture of the stun gun is hilarious.