Zappin’ pirates

[unhappycamper]

Pirate zapper
Navy may use skin-warmer, ear-splitter to fight...


Zappin’ pirates
By Philip Ewing - Staff writer
Posted : Monday Nov 3, 2008 5:36:19 EST

Navy ships frustrated by pirates and small-boat attackers could get a new tool to disarm such threats: a nonlethal people zapper. Fifth Fleet commander Vice Adm. Bill Gortney has put out an “urgent need statement” seeking nonlethal weapons to enable cruisers and destroyers to keep small boats at bay.

“If you’re the (commanding officer) of a DDG ... and you see these small boats coming, all you can do is shoot at them,” said Marine Maj. Gen. Tom Benes, director of expeditionary warfare for the chief of naval operations. “Nonlethal weapons give you the ability to cover that gap.”

The Active Denial System, a high-powered millimeter-wave ray that field commanders have requested for use in Iraq, is among the options, Benes said. Another is the Long Range Acoustic Device, already in limited use in the fleet, which sends warnings and ear-splitting noise in a particular direction.

Although ADS has been touted as a land-based technology, the Defense Department has concluded the system could work over water, according to officials at Raytheon, which has delivered three of the systems to the Air Force.

“We’d be ready to make a recommendation that the system would be effective if used at sea aboard ship,” said George Svitak, Raytheon’s business development director for directed energy weapons.


Rest of article at: http://www.navytimes.com/news/2008/11/navy_pirate_zapper_110308w/%2e