Blinding weapon

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A young man is standing in an interior room with a rifle-like but extremely futuristic weapon. The man is wearing black trousers and a white shirt and can be seen waist up. The weapon is about the length of an ordinary rifle, but it is extremely bulky and looks downright monstrous. It appears to be made of gray plastic and black metal and has curved contours everywhere. A telescopic sight is integrated into the part of the shaft that faces the shooter, through which the man appears to be aiming. Instead of a barrel, the weapon has a massive body about 30 cm high, underneath two short legs are folded out.
PHaSR - a US blinding weapon based weapon.

A blend weapon (English dazzler ) is a non-lethal energy weapon , the intensity visible light or UV radiation used to human opponents to dazzle to disorient or.

Blinding weapons, which cause permanent blindness of the victim, were expressly forbidden in 1995 within the framework of the United Nations Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons , after they had previously been declared as weapons by Art. 23 e) in conjunction with Art. 22 of the Hague Land Warfare Regulations , who cause undue suffering were outlawed.

Dazzlers should not cause permanent blindness of the target and therefore, from the point of view of their supporters, do not fall under the regulations of the UN resolution.

Countermeasures

Theoretically, narrow-band optical filters tuned to the frequency of the respective laser can offer protection against dazzlers; on the other hand, lasers with variable wavelengths such as dye lasers or titanium: sapphire lasers can theoretically be used in dazzlers . Nonlinear optical media such as vanadium- doped zinc - tellurium compounds (ZnTe: V) can be used to construct electro-optical limiters. These would selectively limit the intense light beam from the weapon without blocking the much weaker residual light in the area.

Some models can optionally be operated in the infrared range in order to switch off electronic sensors in a targeted manner .

Most of the current systems are portable and are usually based on either red laser diodes or green solid-state lasers (see also DPSS ).

Use of other lighting equipment

At handguns mounted light sources are also not only used to illuminate the area, but also to the glare of the opponent and marketed with this same argument. In this case, however, the primary function of the light source is to illuminate the target, not to dazzle it.

Construction variants

Laser dazzler

A cylindrical device made of metal, perhaps 20 cm long, lies on a white background. At one thickened end there are some knurled dials, the opening of the cylinder can be closed by a cover.
DPSS laser dazzler

As part of a DARPA funding program , the US manufacturer LE-Systems developed a green DPSS laser with a wavelength of 532 nm and a power of 500 milliwatts from 1996 onwards. In principle, these are stronger variants of the well-known laser pointer principle. The advantage of the bright green light is that it is considerably more visible to the human eye both during the day and at night than the red (660 nm) of conventional pointers. The American manufacturer SaberShot offers a similar system under the name Photonic Disruptor , the performance of which ranges from 200 m (pencil format) to 500 m (flashlight format) up to 2 km for rifle-like constructions, depending on the form factor.

Saber 203 Dazzler

The Saber 203 Dazzler (also Saber 203 Grenade Shell Laser Intruder Countermeasure System ) uses a red laser diode with a power of 28 mW, which is embedded in a capsule made of solid plastic in the form of a standardized 40 mm grenade and in an M203 ( Grenade launcher) can be loaded. The system has an effective range of around 300 meters and is controlled by a small control that is clamped under the launcher. If necessary, the system can be quickly ejected and replaced with a conventional grenade. It is similar to the Project Perseus optical ammunition developed by the Los Alamos National Laboratory . Saber 203 Dazzler were deployed in Somalia in 1995 during Operation United Shield .

JD-3 Dazzler

This system is used on the Chinese Type 98 main battle tank , for example to repel laser-based anti-tank guided missiles. It is equipped with a dome-shaped sensor system that detects the lighting from opposing target lasers ( laser designator ) and, as a result, actively blinds the opposing target sensors located in this way.

ZM-87

The ZM-87 Portable Laser Disturber is a laser- based optoelectronic countermeasure originating from China. By 2000, Norinco had manufactured at least 22 individual systems. The system can blind enemy troops permanently at a distance of between two and three kilometers and temporarily at a distance of up to ten kilometers. It was primarily designed to dazzle people. There is evidence that it can destroy photoelectric elements in laser-based range finders, video cameras, and missile guidance systems.

Technical specifications

  • Output power: 15 mW, five pulses per second at two different frequencies
  • Maximum range (blindness): 2 to 3 km (5 km with additionally inserted sevenfold optics)
  • Maximum range (temporary glare): 10 km
  • Weight (without battery): 35 kg

The system resembles a heavy machine gun in appearance and consists of a portable energy converter that is connected to the 84 centimeter long radiation source by a cable. In use, it rests on a tripod and has a sighting device.

Outfit DEC or LDS

The DEC or Laser Dazzle Sight (LDS) outfit is a British laser system that has been used on warships since the 1980s. Several sources suggest that it was first used in the Falklands War . Among other things, the HMS Invincible , HMS Hermes and HMS Brilliant are said to have been equipped with corresponding systems. These were used to directly dazzle low-approaching Argentine pilots.

PHaSR

The PHaSR (Personnel Halting and Stimulation Response Rifle) , a portable system based on two different frequencies, was developed at the Air Force Research Laboratory , Kirtland Air Force Base , New Mexico and was partially funded by the US Department of Justice. The first prototypes were handed over to the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate , Quantico (Virginia) for testing in early 2005 .

The name is a backronym inspired by the fictional energy weapons phasers of the television series Star Trek . The outward appearance of the prototypes is also vaguely reminiscent of the design of the energy guns in Starship Enterprise: The Next Century and some of the later movies in the series.

Veiling-glare laser

The term Veiling-glare Laser refers to a dazzler concept pursued by the US Joint Nonlethal Weapons Directorate on the basis of ultraviolet laser light. The radiation is supposed to cause dazzling fluorescence in the lens of the opposing eye, making clear vision impossible. Corresponding plans were published in September 2002. The concept should have three main advantages compared to conventional systems in the visible wave range:

  • Since a lower output power is used, the risk of eye damage is theoretically lower.
  • The position of the system is not directly recognizable for the target object in use.
  • The operative angular range is larger.

The concept has been massively questioned by scientists. The New Scientist magazine quoted two experts, Tom van den Berg from the Dutch Ophthalmic Research Institute and Bill Stark from Saint Louis University , who are of the opinion that the use of UV radiation itself is already questionable for the output power required in this process and can permanently damage the lens. They assume that the lens of the eye will become cloudy with great certainty . Stark, an expert in studying the effects of UV light on the eye, questioned the functionality of the basic principle itself: "My experience suggests that such fluorescence does not cause any noticeable glare (in the eye)".

See also

literature

  • Lisa A. Small, Blinding Laser Weapons: It is Time for the International Community to Take Off Its Blinders, online at ICLTD INC.
  • Human Rights Watch Arms Project USBlinding Laser Weapons
  • Bill Hillaby, Directed Energy Weapons Development and Potential, aeronautics.ru
  • Louise Doswald-Beck, June 30, 1996, New Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, International Review of the Red Cross No. 312, pp. 272-299, online at International Review of the Red Cross
  • Burrus M. Carnahan, Marjorie Robertson, American Journal of International Law , The Protocol on "Blinding Laser Weapons": A New Direction for International Humanitarian Law, Ed. 90, No. 3 (July 1996), pp. 484-490
  • Bradford Non-Lethal Weapons Research Project, December 2006 OCCASIONAL PAPER, No.1: The Early History of "Non-Lethal" Weapons, online at University of Bradford (PDF; 428 kB)

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Protocol on Blinding Laser Weapons, October 13, 1995 (Protocol IV to the 1980 United Nations Convention on Prohibitions or Restrictions on the Use of Certain Conventional Weapons Which May be Deemed to be Excessively Injurious or to Have Indiscriminate Effects ), online z. B. under International Committee of the Red Cross ( Memento from September 28, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ↑ cf. LE Systems, Inc. ( Memento January 9, 2007 on the Internet Archive )
  3. ↑ Example videos on the glare effect compared to conventional light sources under Training Law Enforcement Officers ( Memento from October 8, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ cf. Product description ( Memento from January 17, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  5. ↑ cf. Wilson Dizard III, Military laser technology spurs new civil applications, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine, 1997, online at Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine ( Memento from October 1, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  6. ↑ cf. defense-update.com ( Memento from October 17, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  7. ↑ cf. Data on Forecast International ( Memento from September 27, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  8. ↑ cf. z. B. David Guyatt, Killing me Softly ( Memento from December 2, 2006 in the Internet Archive ), or John Haystead, Optical warfare: technology emerges to see the enemy, and to blind him under Military & Aerospace Electronics ( Memento from September 30, 2007 in the Internet Archive )
  9. ^ Eva D. Blaylock New technology 'dazzles' aggressors ( Memento from July 21, 2012 in the web archive archive.today ) and Will Knight, November 7, 2005, US military sets laser PHASRs to stun at newscientist.com ( Memento from April 18 2008 in the Internet Archive )
  10. ↑ cf. David Hambling, September 8, 2002, 'Safe' laser weapon comes under fire, online at New Scientist.com ( Memento from January 4, 2006 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ Peter Riedlberger, Blendende Aussichten, And Another American Laser ( Memento from November 30, 2016 in the Internet Archive ).