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I'm loathe to drive traffic through to the <em>Daily Mail, </em>but this is a <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=482560" target="_blank">good article</a> about <a href="http://www.raytheon.com/products/silent_guardian/" target="_blank">Silent Guardian</a>, the public face of microwave beam weapons, and surely just the tip of the iceberg of what's going on at the Directed Energy Directorate in the USA.

<em>"It is a bit like touching a red-hot wire, but there is no heat, only the sensation of heat. There is no burn mark or blister.</em>

<em>A square transmitter as big as a plasma TV screen is mounted on the back of a Jeep.  </em>

<em>When turned on, it emits an invisible, focused beam of radiation - similar to the microwaves in a domestic cooker - that are tuned to a precise frequency to stimulate human nerve endings. </em>

<em>It can throw a wave of agony nearly half a mile.</em>

<em>Anyone in the beam's path will feel, over their entire body, the agonising sensation I've just felt on my fingertip. The prospect doesn't bear thinking about...</em>

<em> It is easy to see the raygun being used not as an alternative to lethal force (when I can see that it is quite justified), but as an extra weapon in the battle against dissent. </em>

<em>Because it is, in essence, a simple machine, it is easy to see similar devices being pressed into service in places with extremely dubious reputations. </em>

<em>There are more questions: in tests, volunteers have been asked to remove spectacles and contact lenses before being microwaved. Does this imply these rays are not as harmless as Raytheon insists? </em>

<em>What happens when someone with a weak heart is zapped?  </em>

<em>And, perhaps most worryingly, what if deployment of Silent Guardian causes mass panic, leaving some people unable to flee in the melee? Will they just be stuck there roasting?</em>

Full story at the <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/technology/technology.html?in_article_id=482560" target="_blank">Daily Mail</a>