Zap the Suckers!

Who wants to be the first to ZAP Osama?

The Pentagon is in the final stages of evaluating whether a new non-lethal weapon, which delivers a beam of energy that benignly burns, might be useful to U.S. forces in Iraq who want to control a crowd or stop an individual without inflicting injury.

If it is deployed to Iraq, the military's $51 million "Active Denial System," which looks like a satellite TV dish, would be mounted on an armored Humvee and dubbed, collectively, a "Sheriff."

Those who have been test-zapped say it causes a sensation similar to touching a hot light bulb, a burning feeling that stops instantly when the beam is shut off or the subject moves out of its way. It leaves neither a burn nor any residual pain.

"This capability is expected to save countless lives by providing a means to stop individuals without causing injury, before a deadly confrontation develops."

The device uses a transmitter to send a narrow beam of 95-GHz millimeter waves toward a subject. The energy penetrates less than 1/64th of an inch, heating up the skin's surface and causing a stinging sensation. A 2-second burst brings the spot to 130 degrees F. But the human pain reflex makes people pull away automatically after a second, GlobalSecurity.org wrote. To burn the skin, someone would have to endure the beam for 250 seconds.

Garcia, of the Air Force lab, said no one has been able to tough out the stinging for more than three seconds. He managed to stand two seconds before recoiling when he underwent a test application of the beam. "It hurt a lot," he said.