Electromagnetic (radiation) weapons are a type of directed energy weapons which use electromagnetic radiation to deliver heat, mechanical, or electrical energy to a target to cause various, sometimes very subtle, effects. They can be used against humans, electronic equipment, and military targets generally, depending on the technology.
Taser-like motor effects are also possible. The purpose of the PEP (Pulsed Energy Projectile), the LIP (Laser Induced Plasma) weapon and the Active Denial System (ADS) is to induce pain, although the PEP has lethal capabilities.
When used against equipment, directed electromagnetic energy weapons can operate similarly to omnidirectional electromagnetic pulse (EMP) devices, by inducing destructive voltage within electronic wiring. The difference is that they are directional and can be focused on a specific target using a parabolic reflector. Faraday cages may be used to provide protection from most directed and undirected EMP effects.
When used against humans electromagnetic weapons can have dramatic effects, such as the intense burning sensation caused by Raytheon's Active Denial system, or more subtle effects such as the creation—at a distance—of a sense of anxiety or dread in an individual or a group of people. Three military advantages of such weapons are: (1) that the individual or group of people would not necessarily realize that they were being targeted by such a device; (2) that microwave radiation, like some other radio frequency radiation, can easily penetrate most common building materials; and (3) that with specialized antennas the radiation and its effects can be focused on either an individual or a large area such as a city or country.
Potential military uses for such weapons include (1) the capability to influence an enemy force (or population) to flee rather than to stand and fight by imposing on them a sense of great anxiety or impending disaster) ; (2) the ability to convince captured enemy combatants that the great sense of physical well-being which seemed to accompany their being even slightly cooperative was much more desirable than the overwhelming sense of uneasiness and dread associated with their being uncooperative; (3) the ability to deprive an enemy force of sound sleep for a prolonged period; or (4) the capability to persuade the close comrades of an enemy soldier that the soldier—perhaps an officer who admittedly hears voices or strange noises that no one else can hear—is going crazy and is not to be taken seriously. Such feelings, voices, or strange noises and dreams can be directed at the enemy with some precision by specialized, microwave-type radiation antennas.
High-energy radio frequency weapons (HERF) or high-power radio frequency weapons (HPRF) use high intensity radio waves to disrupt electronics.
High and low power, Pulsed Microwave devices use low-frequency microwave radiation which can be made to closely mimic and interact with normal human brain waves having similar amplitudes and frequencies. The heart, lungs, and other vital organs are controlled by very low voltage electronic signals from the human brain. It should be possible to disrupt, catastrophically, such signals - from a distance - using this technology.
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The University of Florida and the University of Central Florida, in conjunction with the Office of Naval Research, conducted a study begun in 2004 called "the Sensory Consequences of Electromagnetic Pulses Emitted by Laser Induced Plasma Channels". According to Dr. Jonathan Moreno, author of the book MIND WARS (2009), this project will have to be brought out of the laboratory and onto the battlefield to determine the full effects of using these weapons on humans. (Google award/contract M67854-04-C-5074)
The University of Texas-Austin Institute for Advanced Technology (IAT) conducts basic research to advance electrodynamics and hypervelocity physics related to electromagnetic weapons.[1]
Sometimes considered to be non-lethal, electromagnetic weapons can, under the right conditions or in the wrong hands, pose health threats to humans.[2]
Some bio-effects of electromagnetic (radiation) weapons include effects to the human central nervous system resulting in localized physical pain (e.g. headaches or joint pain), difficulty breathing, vertigo, incontinence, nausea, disorientation, or other systemic discomfort. Electromagnetic radiation weapons may cause cumulative damage to the human body. Electromagnetic weapons can affect the human nervous system and might lead to diseases of the nervous system such as Primary Lateral Sclerosis.
Microwave pulses can affect the epidermis (skin) and dermis, the thick sensitive layer of skin and connective tissue beneath the epidermis that contains blood, lymph vessels, sweat glands, and nerve endings, generating a burning sensation or actual burn from as far as 700 meters.[3]
Project Pandora, conducted by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), included externally induced auditory input from pulsed microwave audiograms of words or sounds which create the effect of hearing voices or noises that are not a part of the recipient's own thought processes. Although in a very quiet environment, the test subject would clearly hear the words or sounds whether or not the person was wearing ear protection such as ear plugs.
Directed energy weapons such as Boeing’s Airborne Laser, a chemical laser which has been mounted in a 747 jet is reportedly able to destroy incoming missiles by heating and warping the thin pressurized skin typical of such missiles.[4]
Electromagnetic weapons, including high power microwaves, were used during the Gulf War to disrupt and destroy the enemy's electronic systems and may have been used for other purposes. The degree of exposure to electromagnetic fields by Iraqi civilians and battlefield troops is unknown.[5]