io9: raytheon

It's Like a Heatwave Burnin' In the Subcutaneous Layer of Your Skin

Ed Grabianowski — Tue, 14 Oct 2008 10:40:00 PDT

The terms "U.S. Marines" and "non-lethal" seem pretty antithetical to each other, but the Leathernecks are close putting in an order for Raytheon's Silent Guardian millimeter wave defense system. As far as non-lethal weapons go, this one's pretty hardcore - it slowly cooks you from the inside. But they swear it will stop before it does any "permanent damage."

Silent Guardian is basically an antenna that can fire a targeted beam of "millimeter wave energy" up to about 250 yards. It creates a very painful burning sensation in the target by...well, cooking the subcutaneous layer of their skin, about 1/64 of an inch below the surface. The shallow penetration of the beam and some vaguely described safety overrides prevent it from killing or doing lasting harm, and as soon as you step (make that, run) away from the beam, the burning goes away.

Unfortunately, it seems that some of the people who participated in safety tests on the beam (including a journalist from Wired's Danger Room) have recently discovered that those tests were far from safe. Which begs the question: Is this really a nonlethal weapon?

If it turns out to be safe, the Silent Guardian could be used to protect checkpoints and base entrances, and for weekend cookouts. I'm thinking of ordering one to mount on the Apocalypsemobile, but only to keep me warm while racing on January 1st. Image by: DOD Buzz.

Marines fund non-lethal heat ray. [Defense Tech]

Military Exo-Suits Are On the Way

Ed Grabianowski — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 13:00:00 PDT

U.S. military troops won't have to wait decades for useful exoskeleton robo-suits. According to the U.S. Army Soldier Systems Center (SSC), development plans are on track to deploy the suits in a few years. Which soldiers will get the suits, and what roles will our cyborg supersoldiers play?

SSC (also known as Natick, for the Massachusetts town where it's headquartered) is currently testing suits built by Sarcos and Raytheon, but they have some issues to resolve before the are deployable. The biggest problems, literally, are the power sources. They're too large and heavy, and don't last long enough.

The other issue is safety. The primary function of these suits will be to help soldiers lift heavy objects, such as missiles or crates full of supplies. Giving one person the ability to do the work of five is awesome, until a hydraulic line blows out. Imagine having a 1,000 pound crate of MREs land in your lap. Exo-suits in the field are definitely going to require redundancy. But the fact that the military has identified the areas that need improvement and is working on the development is a good sign. This isn't pie-in-the-sky technology any more. Image by: gadgetguide.

Exoskeleton Update. [Defense Tech]

Raytheon Heals the World, Immunosurveillance Cures Cancer

Annalee Newitz — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 07:30:50 PST

Here are your science headlines for this lovely Monday morning. Let's start with a little global healing from your pals at Raytheon, the company best know for making the Phalanx (pictured at left), surveillance devices, and reconnaissance gadgets. Apparently the Green Building Council has awarded Raytheon's new Wartime Protection Center in Alabama a "silver" badge of approval for environmentally-sound building practices. That makes it the first green facility in all of Alabama.

Speaking of military boons, it turns out that soldiers are about to start benefitting from antennae made of plasma. These superheated gas antennae work just like regular metal ones, except that they can't be jammed and they disappear the moment they turn off. Plus, they look like cool neon tubes. Wrecked economies and curing cancer after the jump.

Unfortunately nothing can undo the economic troubles that climate change will visit upon the Asian economy. According to a new report:

Asia is "effectively on the front line of climate change", as it is home to almost two-thirds of the world's population. And with half of this population living near the coast, billions are directly vulnerable to sea-level rise driven by a warming world.

Your own immune system could stop the growth of cancerous tumors via a system called "immunosurveillance." Basically the theory behind it is that if we can't kill a cancer outright, at least we can keep it from getting bigger. Turns out the technique is working far better than anybody thought it would. Image courtesy of Raytheon.