Drugs intended to be used as nonlethal weapons are almost certain to kill people if used during a crisis, the British Medical Association said in a recent report.

John Arquilla reviews the current defense budget, with a focus on the spending for high-tech, and non-lethal weaponry such as the "Active Denial System."

The Defense Department is ready to deploy its Active Denial System, its version of a non-lethal stun gun based on gyrotron energy beam technology.

Nonlethal weapons such as high-power microwave devices should be used on American citizens in crowd-control situations before they are used on the battlefield. Domestic use would make it easier to avoid questions in the international community over any possible safety concerns, according to U.S. Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne.

The U.S. Air Force is particularly intrigued by the possibility of fielding nonlethal lasers and directed energy capabilities. If USAF had access to “dial-a-yield” weapons or directed energy weapons with temporary or reversible effects, the range of capabilities the service could offer to the national command authority would be greatly expanded, said service officials.

David Hambling has a two-part series up on current research into directed-energy weapons that target the nervous system. The first part looks at U.S. Air Force research into this, including the infamous Active Denial System or "pain ray". The second part looks at Russian research into developing a heart-stopping, death ray.

The author argues that the U.S. should deploy the Active Denial System (aka. the "pain ray") to Iraq because by doing so it would let the genie of directed-energy warfare out of the bottle. He proposes that President Bush pursue an arms control agreement to ban this and similar technologies.

The Pentagon has finally approved the deployment of the Active Denial System to Iraq. The system is a directed energy weapon that causes acute but non-lethal pain to all subjects within range and is slated to be used for breaking up prison riots and controlling unruly crowds.

The U.S. military might have spared hundreds or even thousands of lives in Iraq and Afghanistan if they had nonlethal directed-energy weapons to use against attacking crowds, in house-to-house searches and other urban warfare operations, said a U.S. government expert active in developing the weapons.

The US government has unveiled a "non-lethal" laser rifle designed to dazzle enemy personnel without causing them permanent harm. But the device will require close scrutiny to ensure compliance with a United Nations protocol on blinding laser weapons.