Sonic Blaster Nails Me

David Axe

08.05.2007

wired.com

Outside at the annual Mock Riot at an old state pen in Moundsville, West Virginia, police squads are fighting simulated battles with college kids portraying rebellious inmates. Inside, vendors are showing off the latest in weapons – both lethal and nonlethal – body armor and robots.

Система LRAD-500, установленная на автомобиле HMMWV

One of the most impressive pieces of kit is also the most nondescript. It looks like a thick, tan-colored stop sign mounted to a metal stand. The Long-Range Acoustic Device, built by American Technology Corporation, focuses and broadcasts sound over ranges of up to hundreds of yards.

There’s a lot you can do with this. Record a message in whatever language you want and you can shoot bulletins to flood survivors or refugees to advise them where to find help. Switch to an annoying whine and dial it up a notch and you can use the LRAD as a weapon.

Cruise-ship crews have even used the device to ward off pirates. The Army and Marine Corps in Iraq use it to disperse crowds and, in a mounted version, to protect convoys. Corrections and police departments armed with LRAD can put down riots without firing a shot.

Sound (ahem) implausible? Look at the picture below of test subjects getting the LRAD treatment. And take it from me: today at the Mock Riot, Scott Stuckey from American Technology Corp dialed the LRAD down to one of its lowest settings and swept it past me. It was like having a hundred nagging girlfriends in my brain screaming at me. Very unpleasant.

Результат воздействия работы LRAD-500 на испытуемых

ATC has delivered around a thousand LRADs in several models to law enforcement, cruise lines and the military. Prices are in the low five digits. Check out the video to see LRAD in action at a military convoy exercise. It’s not much to look at, but the visuals aren’t the point. First you’ll hear the opfor open up with small arms; then you’ll hear the LRADs go into action, sweeping in the general direction of the shooters. Note what happens to the incoming fire.

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