Since this anti democracy weapon works like a microwave oven and therefore heats water molecules, the trick would appear to be to wear insulating under layers then a waterproof layer - anorak and trousers - then a cotton outer layer which needs to be kept wet to absorb the microwaves. The waterproof layer just stops the inner insulating layers from becoming wet too. To really defeat it you'd need to wear - wait for it - a tin foil suit! Not sure about how to protect your face though. I'd think it could cause cataracts in the eyes.

as usual the mainstream media are slow to catchup.see link below.
 http://209.85.135.104/search?q=cache:xM6uW5rzVysJ:www.globalsecurity.org/military/systems/ground/v-mads.htm+Active+Denial+System&hl=en&gl=uk&ct=clnk&cd=2&client=firefox-a

as another comment pointed out/linked, these things are being tested in iraq for quite a while now.

since last summer, raytheon also has an immobile version on offer called "Silent Guardian":
 http://technology.guardian.co.uk/weekly/story/0,,1887256,00.html
 http://www.raytheon.com/products/silent_guardian/

as the highest risk re: this sort of microwave weapons is considered to be eye-damage, and the proponents as per usual (cf. 'tear gas', rubber bullets) bring forth the argument, e.g. demonstrators are free to run away if they find the effects uncomfy (and woe to those who stumble/get stuck/are disabled), it's especially noteworthy that the 'silent guardian' has an 'auto-tracker' device, so on a monitor one person can be 'marked' and then the weopon automatically follws wherever the person moves ...

there'll be a whole lot more weapons like this coming at us in the not so distant future, especially in the us and uk billions are invested in research every year, many of them 'black budget projects'. a recommended article with a link to an exhaustive pdf on these matters:
 http://indymedia.org.uk/en/2007/01/359453.html

Wet clothes would just increase the pain, as sweaty skin does. Contact lenses and glasses can prove dangerous too. The best defence against one of these fuckers is a RPG although it might be worth experimenting with reflecting the beam back. They are also developing wireless tasers where the current travels along ionised air to knockout an entire crowd. And Singapore has just anounced a prize to develop a street-fighting robot - so much for Asimovs first law of robotics !

Basically all the technology needed to stop any dissent is almost in place. Our last chance is to burn these factories to the ground now and lynch the developers.

a radio frequency then theres no reason it can't be jammed.

well, first off, min is soooooo much bigger than that!!..
and seccond, could it be posible to protect the eyes with a very fine wire mesh?

Dingo,

It's 95Ghz. You can't jam a weaponised beam - you jam signals by broadcasting over them with a stronger signal on the same frequency. In effect that'd be cooking the protestors more.


Ak,

Yes, a Faraday cage should protect you. In effect they don't though I'm not scientific enough to understand why. If you want to test this, build a fine mesh cage grounded to earth. From my understanding you shouldn't be able to use a mobile phone inside. In reality you can. In reality we need to start recruiting some physics students - or just burn down every Raytheon etc factories.

Vehicle-Mounted Active Denial System (V-MADS)

Active Denial Technology is a breakthrough non-lethal technology that uses millimeter-wave electromagnetic energy to stop, deter and turn back an advancing adversary from relatively long range. It is expected to save countless lives by providing a way to stop individuals without causing injury, before a deadly confrontation develops.

The technology was developed by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Department of Defense's Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate. Approximately $40 million has been spent on this technology over the past ten years.

In July 2005 it was reported that the Active Denial System would be deployed to Iraq before the end of the year. Under an initiative called Project Sheriff, troops will receive a total of 15 vehicles. These deployments did not take place, and as of early 2007 the initial deployment was slated no sooner than 2010.

This non-lethal technology was developed in response to Department of Defense needs for field commanders to have options short of the use of deadly force. Non-lethal technologies can be used for protection of Defense resources, peacekeeping, humanitarian missions and other situations in which the use of lethal force is undesirable. The system is intended to protect military personnel against small-arms fire, which is generally taken to mean a range of 1,000 meters. The system is described as having a range of 700 yards.

Countermeasures against the weapon could be quite straightforward — for example covering up the body with thick clothes or carrying a metallic sheet — or even a trash can lid — as a shield or reflector. Also unclear is how the active-denial technology would work in rainy, foggy or sea-spray conditions where the beam's energy could be absorbed by water in the atmosphere.

Active Denial Technology uses a transmitter to send a narrow beam of 95-GHz millimeter waves towards an identified subject. Traveling at the speed of light, the energy reaches the subject and penetrates less than 1/64 of an inch into the skin, quickly heating up the skin's surface. The 95-GHz energy penetrates 1/64 inch into the skin and produces an intense burning sensation that stops when the transmitter is switched off or when the individual moves out of the beam. Within seconds, an individual feels an intense heating sensation that stops when the transmitter is shut off or when the individual moves out of the beam. According to reports, a 2-second burst from the system can heat the skin to a temperature of 130° F. At 50 °C, the pain reflex makes people pull away automatically in less than a second. Someone would have to stay in the beam for 250 seconds before it burnt the skin,

Despite the sensation, the technology does not cause injury because of the low energy levels used. It exploits a natural defense mechanism that helps to protect the human body from damage. The heat-induced sensation caused by this technology, is nearly identical to the sensation experienced by briefly touching an ordinary light bulb that has been left on for a while. Unlike a light bulb, however, active denial technology will not cause rapid burning, because of the shallow penetration of the beam and the low levels of energy used. The transmitter needs only to be on for a few seconds to cause the sensation.

Air Force scientists helped set the present skin safety threshold of 10 milliwatts per square centimetre in the early 1990s, when little data was available. That limit covers exposure to steady fields for several minutes to an hour - but heating a layer of skin 0.3 mm thick to 50 °C in just one second requires much higher power and may pose risks to the cornea, which is more sensitive than skin. A study published last year in the journal Health Physics showed that exposure to 2 watts per square centimeter for three seconds could damage the corneas of rhesus monkeys.

Testing

Humans and animals are being used in the test program. All testing is being conducted with strict observance of the procedures, laws and regulations governing animal and human experimentation. The tests have been reviewed and approved by a formal Institutional Review Board with oversight from the Air Force Surgeon General's Office. The testing is being conducted by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Human Effectiveness Directorate.

Military and civilian employees have volunteered for these tests. Prior to participating in the program, all volunteers are fully informed of the purpose and nature of the tests and of any reasonably foreseeable risks or discomforts expected from the research. Other than minor skin tenderness due to repeated exposure to the beam, there are no lasting effects. An institutional review board has determined that the risk level is minimal. No pay is received for participation, and volunteers may withdraw at any time with no negative personal or professional ramifications. Many of the project scientists are volunteers for the study. These tests, which are being conducted at Kirtland Air Force Base south of Albuquerque, New Mexico, employ more realistic military field conditions, following several years of successful and safe laboratory testing. These field tests are the first to expose an entire test subject to the energy beam.

These tests demonstrate the technology, gather additional data on effects in realistic conditions, and allow the military benefits to be assessed.

Louis Slesin, editor of Microwave News, a leading newsletter on non-ionizing radiation, calls VMADS a "significant development" in directed energy weapons. However, he says that possible injuries, particularly to the eye, could lead to stopping further development and actual deployment of the device-as the Pentagon did in the mid-1990s when it was trying to develop blinding lasers. "The real question is whether it will go the way of the lasers," Slesin says. Like laser, exposure to the microwave beam could cause eye damage. "People will get out of the beam, but [injury to the eyes] depends on how much exposure they get," Slesin says. Slesin also notes that "the only people who are doing health research on the effects of electromagnetic radiation are the people who are developing this weapon-the Air Force Lab. . . . They're the only people who have any money in the United States to do research on the health effects, and they're in firm control of the [safety] standard-setting process. . . . That's a clear conflict."

* FY 2002 Implementation Document (ID) signed establishing management oversight and overall program structure to place ADS on one hybrid electric HMMWV. Concept of operation meeting conducted by Operational manager. Transition meeting conducted by transition manager to define requirements for full system development. ADS effects testing ongoing with frontal exposures of human subjects at full weapons parameters scheduled.
* FY 2002 continued: ADS source optimization started and possible integration of high-temperature superconducting coils investigated.
* FY 2003 - Concept of operation, transition strategy development, and effects testing continuing. System integration (battle management system, HMMWV, and beam director) started. Field demonstration in 4th quarter.
* FY 2004 - Concept of operations finalized. Source optimization, effects testing, system integration continuing. Field Test in 3rd quarter. Military Utility Assessment (MUA) begun.
* FY 2005 - Effects testing and MUA finalized. Final optimization of Battle Management System and HMMWV completed. Residual handed over to transition manager.

As of early January 2007, the US Air Force's 820th Security Forces Group at Moody Air Force Base, GA, was the first unit selected to conduct the V-MADS' extended user evaluation portion of the advanced concept technology demonstration process. The process is designed to expedite the transfer of advanced technologies to the warfighters. by evaluating the system under a series of realistic combat scenarios to determine its potential effectiveness in a deployed environment.

Operational System

Officials have begun examining appropriate platforms on which to deploy the technology. Currently, planning is underway for a vehicle-mounted version. Future versions might also be used onboard planes and ships. The vehicle-mounted version will be designed to be packaged on a vehicle such as a High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV, more commonly referred to as a Humvee). Power would be provided by a turbo-alternator and battery system. Researches say they have made technological break through on power supplies to run such weapons even when mounted on vehicles or aircraft.

This technology and its proposed use in an operational system have been given a preliminary weapons legal review as required by Department of Defense Directive 3000.3 "Policy for Non-Lethal Weapons," and the United States' treaty - obligations. This preliminary review found that further research, development, and testing of this technology is permissible. As required by law, a final, comprehensive legal review will be completed prior to entering the acquisition cycle.

this the same thing that can put voices into your head?

One can protect oneself against this weapon by means of a fine metal mesh. The holes have to be smaller the 1/10th of a wavelength. That's smaller then 0.32 mm.

... sometime ago, these developments were in there infancy, people tried to warn and agitate against them (an early campaign might have had some success in removing public funding) ... those people where shouted down here and elsewhere as 'conspiracyloons' and in fact regularly hidden and deleted ... hence probably this being novel stuff for many.

Back then, armed with good quality witness statements of these class of weapons beng used and developed in panama and iraq(1) I thought I'd better lay down and preserve some comfortable 'I told you' so tee-shirts (100% organic hemp).

Events have overtaken us.

Best prey for that volcanic incident in the canary islands if you want a future free of imperial dominance and wage slave microchiped obediance.

Whatelse is being responded to in this 'conspiracyloon' manner? Best take a look while you still can - who knows, some might be able to preserve dignity and freedom through these coming dark ages.

First, the corporate media attempted to ignore the January 27 anti-war march on Washington. As the Internet and progressive talk radio spread the word about the march and groups around the nation began to mobilize their members to participate in it, the Bush administration -- now armed with all sorts of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) "non-lethal" toys -- decided to stage a test of an anti-crowd microwave weapon, code named "Sheriff," in a demonstration for the media at Moody Air Force Base in Georgia.

On January 24, the military demonstrated its Active Denial System (ADS) millimeter wave directed energy beam in a test designed for the media, and hence, the public. Using enlisted airman, acting as "rioters," as "guinea pigs," a beam was directed at them from a parabolic antenna located 500 yards away atop a Humvee. The wave heated the skin of the "rioters" to 130 degrees, creating the feeling in the targets that they were being burned alive, scattering them in the process. The military pointed out that the beam can penetrate winter clothing (which will be worn by those participating in Saturday's march) and 1/64th of an inch under the skin. As with any electronic weapon, it is clear that the "juice" can be turned up on Sheriff to cause more than a nasty skin burn, including internal organ damage, blindness, and death.

The weapon was developed under a contract awarded by the Pentagon's non-lethal weapons program office at the Quantico, Virginia Marine Corps Base to Raytheon.

The public testing of such a weapon by the military just prior to what may be the largest anti-war march in Washington since the Vietnam War is a clear message by the Pentagon to marchers that the millimeter wave technology exists and is deployable. Psychologically, most people find the idea of being burned alive frightening and this Pentagon "show and tell" was an obvious ploy to scare away marchers, especially those planning to bring their families.

However, marchers should keep in mind that a Humvee is no match against hundreds of thousands of marchers and that any attempt to use such a weapon would have one shot before an angry crowd descended on the vehicle and rendered it useless as both a weapon and a vehicle.

Save your aluminum foil "hats."

According to a technology expert who is familiar with the Raytheon Active Denial System (ADS), tested January 24 at Moody Air Force base in Georgia, the millimeter microwave directed beam weapon can be defeated by a crowd of people using aluminum- or gold-coated Mylar to conduct the beam to ground or even direct it back to the Humvee housing the ADS system. Although the Humvee is shielded, any law enforcement or military personnel standing near the Humvee would get a burning taste of their own medicine if the directed beam were reflected back to its source or to a crowd of police. In addition to aluminum or gold coated Mylar, Mylar reflective space blankets, aluminum coated windshield heat protective screens, and more sophisticated and precise corner cube retro-reflectors or Luneburg spheres can all be used to reflect the millimeter wave beam back to its source.

The source we spoke to also revealed that the ADS technology has already been used in Iraq against civilian rioters even though the Pentagon claims it will not be deployable until 2010. The source added that even if the ADS Humvee is present at the anti-war march in Washington tomorrow, Raytheon would not permit its use because of liability issues stemming from potential eye damage and human rights violations. However, WMR has learned that Raytheon is offering the ADS technology to police departments and as a component of home security alarm systems.