Future Weapons

Right now there are rubber bullets and bean bag projectiles used to stop aggressors plus other less and non-lethal weapons as well. Future weapons, however, will rely more heavily on technology and strategy. Some of the future weapons that are now in development include lasers and laser induced plasmas, optical distractors, active denial technology, focused acoustics and vehicle and vessel stopping.

Future Weapons

Lasers may be used on the ground or in space such as the U. S. plans for a national defense system. A Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response Rifle (PHASR) has been shown to temporarily blind an opponent. The same goes for the Light Emitting Diode Incapacitator (LEDI) that causes temporary blindness, nausea and vomiting and thus has been called the Puke Ray.

A Laser Induced Plasma Channel (LIPC) is an electroshock weapon that uses lasers fired into the atmosphere that causes blooming of the gases to ionize into plasma forming a channel for electricity.

Optical distractors are not future weapons in and of themselves but aid other weaponry or can be used as a "warning shot" so to speak to aggressors. Optical distractors are lasers that use directional energy to overwhelm an adversary's visual acuity, provide a warning or provide the aggressor an opportunity to clarify their intent of action. The affect is similar to bouncing sunlight off a mirror, but with more focused and precise energy.

Another of the future weapons we will see shortly are advanced active denial technology (ADT) systems. Recently, the military has demonstrated the effectiveness of ADT's to the general public through the major media outlets. ADT's were built primarily for crowd control and work by sending out electromagnetic radiation that causes a sensation of heat. Some ADT's have been used to immobilize vehicles and Raytheon has developed a table top unit to be used by police, security personnel and the military.

Because of the potential for misuse, injury and potential death from the ADT, the future of this future weapon is now uncertain unless drastic changes are made or its purpose changes, such as exclusively using the technology for the immobilization of vehicles.

Focused acoustics are future weapons that are in some degree already here. Focused sonic and ultrasonic sound waves as weaponry have been developed by the military for crowd control and immobilization of the enemy. Sonic and ultrasonic waves can cause nausea, discomfort, disorientation (vibration of eyeballs) and incapacitation, such as eardrums exploding. Another unpleasant device is called the MEDUSA (Mob Excess Deterrent Using Silent Audio) that causes incapacitation.

Future weapons may include infrasonic devices that can pass through concrete walls and steel without interruption to target humans on the other side. Besides the complications listed above for focused acoustics the infrasonic devices can cause severe lung and intestinal problems as well.

The military has expressed that distance vehicle stopping to be one of their main safety concerns. Some of the future weapons being developed to stop vehicles at a significant distance include high output microwaves that disrupt electronic engine components, high energy lasers and advanced ADT systems.

Of course some other future weapons may include the Variable Velocity Weapon System that will let soldiers set their guns to kill, wound or just bruise opponents, depending upon the situation (crowd control versus enemy combat) and non-lethal tetanizing weapons. The non-lethal tetanizing weapon uses a high beam of ultraviolet energy to immobilize aggressors. The target's muscles are stimulated to the point of immobilization and the person falls to the ground.

Two more future weapons on the horizon are next generation unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs or drones) and micro UAVs. Both are used today for surveillance and reconnaissance, but in the future the scope will broaden and especially micro UAVs will be used increasingly inside of large or densely packed cities.

Some of the larger drones today can fire weapons upon the enemy. In the future drones will be able to fire lasers, blasts of electromagnetic radiation and biological weaponry.

Biological future weapons will play an increasing role in military warfare in the coming years. Military leaders have been concerned about biological warfare for decades and it is likely that this will be in the arsenal of weapons in future military use. As a nonlethal weapon, a designer virus will need to be introduced that will have temporary incapacitating effects and will not spread beyond the intended community.

Put aside your Honda ASIMO as robots will also be used as future weapons. And these robots will be armed with future weapons themselves. From smaller devices that you mind find in robot battles or devices that the police bomb squad may use to larger size "war robots" it will all be in play not too many years from now.

And if you think robotic exoskeletons are a thing of science fiction such as from the movie, Avatar, then take a look at this video to see what the U. S. military is using right now (see below).

This is just a glimpse of the less lethal and nonlethal future weapons to come. In fact, technology will exceed the maturity of our societies as a whole on earth, so conflicts among countries are not going away any time soon. Those with the most advanced weapons will win both the battles and the wars.