Our Government's Scariest Technology

It's been over fifty years since President Eisenhower warned against the creation of the "military-industrial complex." A quick glance at our nation's half-trillion dollar defense budget confirms that we have not heeded the General's warning. As the nature of warfare evolves with each new conflict and combat occurs on a conventional battlefield less and less, the United States has opted to explore some creative and terrifying methods of protecting the Homeland. We now live in a country where the intimate personal details of a citizen can be discovered from a mile a way and where weapons guide themselves to their intended targets. The U.S. Military has cultivated myriad methods for incapacitating the enemy in their never-ending quest for supremacy. Sure, we can kill them, but we can also stun them, blind them, and make them vomit, if Uncle Sam is feeling especially humanitarian that day. From technology that analyzes your body with microscopic accuracy to annhilating miles of land in one fell swoop, here is Our Government's Scariest Technology.

XM1063 Non-Lethal Personal Suppression Projectile

There are some non-lethal weapons so intense that they are fired from 155mm howitzers and have an effective range of 15 miles. The XM1063 is the ultimate round for riot control, estimated to scatter 152 small non-explosive submunitions filled with whatever chemical crowd supressant your heart desires. Basically, this is the perfect way to spread chemicals and gases over a large group of people. Defenders of the XM1063 have been quick to point out that the 1997 Chemical Weapons Convention prohibited the use of many harmful agents in warfare. Commentators who are wary of the XM1063 are quick to remind us that the Convention's signatories "specifically identified incendiaries, herbicides, and riot control agents as exceptions to the CWC." Though it seems that the question of what exact chemicals that the military can and can't fire over massive crowds is still unanswered, the power of the XM1063 to immobilize large crowds is disconcerting regardless of how it's done.

AOS Airprint

Like most biometric analysis technology, the AirPrint serves a very real need. This device can read fingerprints of a target from over two meters away. It is difficult for a terrorist to blow up a security checkpoint from two meters away. Despite the practical applications of the AirPrint, the device has given many privacy advocates pause. Along with retina scans and microchip implants, some see this as yet another tool for Big Brother to leverage in the creation of a police state. The use of fingerprints, DNA evidence, voice analysis, and other non-testimony based evidence has long been a bone of contention for government watchdogs, as such evidence has never been protected by Miranda rights, yet continues to grow in popularity in the court room. Even if you don't think the Man is out to get you, the idea that our prints can be taken not only without consent, but without our knowledge, is unsettling to say the least.

XM2010 Sniper Rifle

With bombs, lasers, and drones becoming the hot topics when it comes to destructive weaponry, it is easy to overlook the power and accuracy that the military can now get out of their sniper rifles. The XM2010 is accurate up to 1200 meters, which means that an elite sniper can now hit a target almost a mile away. Here's a statistic we found even more unsettling: to graduate from their sniper training, recruits must hit their target 9 out of 10 times from 600 meters with this weapon. Even our rank and file snipers can nail their targets at a little under half a mile away almost every time.

Sticky Foam

Though this is by far the least damaging weapon on this list, the fact that it makes you look like a villain from a cheesy sci-fi movie is enough to scare us. Despite how cool yet terrifying the picture above looks, the difficulty of applying sticky foam to individuals has shifted the military's focus to sliming vehicles. New advances in sticky foam technology have led to the creation of sticky foam guns that can bring a moving vehicle to a standstill. According the army's preferred sticky foam contractor, Adherent Technologies, sticky foam can clog engine intakes and block the steering mechanism almost instantly. Though there are few cooler ways for your vehicle to be brought to a screeching halt, you likely won't think it's so cool when your getaway vehicle can no longer get away.

Invocon Vomit Ray

There have been a number of research contracts handed out by our military to research weapons that will induce motion sickness and dizziness in an intended target. The effect can be achieved either through rapid light pulses or radio frequencies that impact equilibrium. Invocon's vomit-inducing gun takes the latter approach. The company described their invention as a "Star Trek hand-held Phaser Weapon set on 'Stun'." For us, this invention crossed the threshold from sci-fi flight of fancy into scary weapon with serious Big Brother potential when we heard that Invocon plans to increase the weapon's power so that it can reach through walls and incapacitate and entire room full of people. As the good people at Invocon put it, "rooms could be subjected to the EPIC stimulus and then subdued without further risk to friendlies or hostiles." Invocon could be put a bigger damper on your next house party than a hastily made bucket of jungle juice.

Self-Guided Bullets

With increased accuracy in military-grade sniper rifles, America's elite snipers are now capable of incredible feats of marksmanship. Soon, however, you may not have to be an elite sniper to hit your target every time. Sandia National Laboratories has developed a self-guided bullet that might just be able to remove the training and skill normally required to kill someone at a great distance. How does the bullet hit its target regardless of who's firing? As with pretty much everything these days, computers can make a novice into a pro. An 8-bit CPU is housed inside the Sandia Smart Bullet, which receives information from a sensor inside the weapon.

Though prototypes of the bullets have been field tested, there are still issues of cost to tackle before self-guided bullets are standard issue. Sandia engineer Red Jones described the situation this way, "What we want to do is make it cheap enough to make it cost effective for the military to use in a machine gun. It's not going to be millions of dollars, but it's not going to be a buck a piece either." And they say the free market doesn't work.

XM25 Airburst Weapons System

Shooting a bullet 500 meters is impressive. Shooting a grenade 500 meters? That's downright scary. The problem with grenade launchers has traditionally been one of accuracy. The XM25, lovingly referred to as "The Punisher" by U.S. troops, has fixed the problem and then some. The hyper-accurate range-finder on the XM25 calculates the distance from the grenade to the target and then detonates the round after it has completed a pre-determined amount of spirals toward its destination. U.S. troops who saw action in Afganhistan, where the XM25 was field-tested, reported that with the XM25, a unit could prevent enemy troops from successfully hiding behind rocks and barricades during skirmishes. As a result, engagements that once took 15 to 20 minutes were over in a fraction of that time. The only complaint coming back from the field tests was that troops wanted a longer battery life, as they were opting to carry the XM25 as their primary weapon after just a few times out with the grenade launcher.

Adaptiv

For most of you, your frame of reference for an invisibility cloak begins and ends with a twenty-sided die. It turns out that the U.S. military has taken a cue from Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, and your other fantasy favorites and found a way to get their hands on invisibility cloaks of their own. While the world of fantasy presents invisbility largely as a way to get up to some humorous hijinx, J.K. Rowling likely wasn't thinking about an invisibility cloak for a tank. Adaptiv can't make a tank invisible to the human eye, but that doesn't really matter on the battlefield. In addition to dressing your massive military vehicles in a sleek charcoal, the Adaptiv paneling makes tanks, ships, and planes invisible to thermal imaging systems. Sure, Adaptiv isn't necessarily scary to the average citizen, but we imagine it is pretty scary to find yourself staring down the business end of a tank that you couldn't see coming until you were staring down the barrel.

Active Denial Systems

It is comforting to hear that the U.S. invests heavily in non-lethal weapons, but when that non-lethal weapon is a laser beam that makes the target believe that their skin is burning, then that gives us pause. By the way, this laser is effective up to 1,000 meters and travels at the speed of light. How does the high-speed, long distance laser make you feel as though you are being roasted alive? It is not exactly a Jedi Mind Trick: the ray from the ADS heats up a target's skin to 130 degrees. In case you are still totally down with the ADS, it is important to note that a non-government study led by laser expert Dr. Jürgen Altmann suggests that if the operator of the ADS deviates from protocol, victims could end up with second and third degree burns across significant portions of their bodies.

Taser Shockwave

"Don't Tase me bro!" could become a cry of the masses if the Taser Shockwave ever comes into play during a major protest. Overweight law enforcement officers currently have to engage in a comical chase to tase a ball park streaker or concert tweaker, but the Taser Shockwave could such hilarious displays to an end permanently.

The Shockwave shoots six cartridges at a time, each of them in turn create a twenty degree tasing arc. If the rabid gang of hippie protesters coming towards you is wider than your six cartridges, fear not, you can daisy chain as many Shockwaves together as you'd like. Taser's downloadable brochure for the Shockwave advertises their mega-taser as an opportunity to both "de-escalate" and "take action." Take note of this for any aspiring military dictators or burgeoning militiamen on your Christmas list; the Shockwave is the perfect solution to incapacitate scores of dissidents without the messy PR problems that come out of mowing them down.

Modular Advanced Armed Robotic System

Though the U.S. hasn't yet created any "automated kill zones" like the Israelis, the U.S. of A does have some combat bots in their arsenal. Though a handful of gun-wielding robots were sent to Iraq along with gun-wielding humans, they never fired a shot. Military brass felt that there wasn't a hundred percent guarantee that the bots wouldn't malfunction. Considering that the bots can be armed with four grenade launchers and a machine gun packing 400 rounds, we would hope that the margin of error will be infinitesimal before they see combat. As we are huge Battlestar Galactica fans, we can't fault the government for doing all they can to avoid robots turning on their masters, especially if said robots are packing quad grenade launchers.

MEDUSA

There is a new alternative to rubber bullets and tear gas: now riot police can put voices in the heads of protestors. The MEDUSA uses shortwave microwave pulses to place noises into your head and make you think that you're going insane. And we do mean "place": the MEDUSA actually bypasses your eardrums and inserts the unbearable noises directly into your brain. Though this project received early-stage funding from the U.S. Navy, no more cash was allocated after the first phases of development. Why? Bill Guy, former University of Washington professor, and a number of other industry indsiders have a guess. Guy estimates that producing an unpleasant sound, at about 120 decibels, would take 40 million W/cm2 of energy. One milliwatt per square centimeter is considered to be the safety threshold. As he put it, "that would kill you pretty fast." Basically, your brain would be melted before the sounds could drive you crazy. Phew. That was close one. We much prefer death by brain melting to perceived insanity.

Genia Phonetics Picosecond Programmable Laser Scanner

Last year, Gizmodo reported that the Department of Homeland Secuity now possessed a body scanner accurate to over 160 feet. What exactly is accurate at 160 feet? We're talking about finding traces of gun power on your clothes or measuring the adrenaline levels in your body. Don't take the blogosphere's word for it. Genia Phonoetics, the creators of the scanner, claim that their invention can "penetrate clothing and many other organic materials and offers spectroscopic information, especially for materials that impact safety such as explosives and pharmacological substances."

What are the potential implications for the average citizen? The same Gizmodo piece references a traveler in Dubai who was held in prison after traces of cannabis were found on his shoe. If molecular scanning is this accurate and the government has no limits as to when and where the scanner can be employed, then what little privacy remains for private citizens could come to an abrupt end. While we have been spending so much of our time concerned with what happens to our Internet data, we may already be giving up more information than emails could ever reveal courtesy of our bodies.

MQ-9 Reaper Drone

The MQ-9 is a military game changer: though unmanned military aircraft have long been a reality, never has precision been married with firepower as they have in America's most advanced attack drone. Early in the MQ-9's life, the drone was used largely for reconnaissance. Then they started to put bombs in it. There are two facts you need to know about the MQ-9. The drone can read a license plate from two miles away and it can carry a 500 pound bomb.

Though unmanned planes have been used in military offensives since World War II, recent breakthroughs in power and precision have made drones a major part of American aerial combat. While the possibility of dramatically reducing military casualties is appealing, one can't help wonder how often a unmanned plane could cause collateral damage, or hit the wrong target. There are reports that Iraqi soldiers attempted to surrender to unmanned spy drones during Operation Desert Storm. If enemy combatants attempted to surrender to bomber drones we would likely never know about it.

The advances in drone technology have coincided with the evolution of the term "battlefield." The first use of the MQ-9's predecessor, the MQ-1, in combat operations was in 2001, when the drone bombed killed an alleged conspirator in the U.S.S. Cole bombing and five other members of Al-Queda. We now not only live a world where unmanned vehicles conduct military operations, but are taking out individuals who may or may not be on the field of battle with precision. Whether you choose to view Reaper Drones as a welcome way to save troops or a troubling ethical and moral dilemma, there is no denying that they have forever changed the wars will be fought.

B53 Atom Bomb

You know that a weapon is intense if the U.S. military opts to dismantle it because it is too powerful. It is hard to perceive just how destructive an atomic weapon can be. The B53 was the most powerful atomic weapon in the American arsenal when it was dismantled in 2011. The bomb packed a 9 megaton blast, 600 times the impact that rocked Hiroshima during the Second World War. If a B53 had been detonated, everyone within 18 miles would have been burned to death. Any buildings within 9 miles would be decimated. If you try to hide underground, then you'd better dig deep. The bomb's effects could be felt 230 meters beneath the surface.

It's terrifying to think that this weapon had been in the U.S. arsenal since the early 1960s. If popular opinion hadn't turned against nuclear weapons after the world saw images of Japan's devastation, who's to say what level of destruction today's atomic weapons could have been capable of? During the brinksmanship of the Cold War era, the B53 was airborne 24 hours a day, as a precaution against Soviet aggression. Though the B53 held the title of most devastating weapon in the U.S. arsenal for 35 years, it was not the most powerful bomb ever created. The B41, retired in 1976, carried a maximum yield almost three times that of the B53.