Nov 19, 2009: LRAD

[xoxoxoBruce]

ELRD, Long Range Acoustic Device... think, your stereo speaker on steroids & Meth.



Why that looks like a search light, or satellite dish, or something non-threatening.
That's what the Somali pirates that tried to hijack the Maersk Alabama, again, probably thought. Wrong.

Until now, it wasn't widely known that the US Defense Department was sharing the so-called Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) with commercial cruise ships. The weapon is essentially a small dish that beams hellishly loud noise that is deafening but not lethal. Weighing 20 kilograms and as big as a TV satellite dish, the device looks deceptively harmless. But once trained on its target, it blasts a tight beam of painful siren-like sound.

NY and Boston cops have them, I want one too, but $30k is a little steep.

In an attack on the cruise ship, Seaborn Spirit, last week...

It's not known how the grinning pirates 160 kilometers off the coast of the Horn of Africa reacted as they suddenly were hit by the LRAD. But they were close, and the closer one is to the sonic cannon, the worse the effect is. It's possible they received permanent hearing damage, but at the very least they experienced an excruciating headache and ear pain to the point that they could no longer see or hear. They also quickly lost the desire to board the ship. Of course, even Captain Blackbeard would have quickly set sail when confronted with 150 decibels of pure noise.

Wonder how long you'd have to keep a person in the zone, to do that?
How about the neighbors cat?

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[Gravdigr]

[Nikolai]

150 decibels??? I get worse clubbing, and the music is a darn site worse too.

[SPUCK]

I'd want to stand there behind a large round target with psychotic pirates shooting at it. Yeah yeah. I volunteer.

[capnhowdy]

Nice ass on the operator.

[Undertoad]

Can this device be rendered useless by a $50 pair of noise-cancelling headphones?

[newtimer]

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Can this device be rendered useless by a $50 pair of noise-cancelling headphones?

...or some foam earplugs?

That's why I'd rather just let a submarine lurk quietly in the area.

Pirate boat comes. Sub launches a torpedo. Pirate boat breaks in half and sinks without ever knowing what hit it. Sub resumes lurking down below.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by SPUCK

I'd want to stand there behind a large round target with psychotic pirates shooting at it. Yeah yeah. I volunteer.

The Gurkha operating it on the cruise ship, suffered from splinters, so I guess they were trying.

Originally Posted by Undertoad

Can this device be rendered useless by a $50 pair of noise-cancelling headphones?

I doubt it. Getting hit with this thing is more than a loud noise, it would rattle your head like a firehose, at close range.

Originally Posted by newtimer

...or some foam earplugs?

That's why I'd rather just let a submarine lurk quietly in the area.

Pirate boat comes. Sub launches a torpedo. Pirate boat breaks in half and sinks without ever knowing what hit it. Sub resumes lurking down below.

The "area" is thousands of square miles, and trying to hit those speedboats with a torpedo would be like trying to shoot fruit flies with a rifle.
IF, the sub was in the right place, at the right time, a deck gun would have a better chance.
I think aircraft is a better choice, but the ship has to hold them off long enough.

[dar512]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

The "area" is thousands of square miles, and trying to hit those speedboats with a torpedo would be like trying to shoot fruit flies with a rifle.
IF, the sub was in the right place, at the right time, a deck gun would have a better chance.
I think aircraft is a better choice, but the ship has to hold them off long enough.

I'm sure you're right, Bruce. But I bet it would be fun to go Q-shipping through that area.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Q-ships. Oh yes.

[Pie]

Remember folks, you can kill 'em, but you can't maim them. Blinding lasers are contradictory to the Geneva Conventions; I can only assume that high-energy directed audio weapons will be added soon. Emphasis is mine:

Originally Posted by Wikipedia

In 1998 to provide independent assessment on human effects, data, and models for the use of 'non-lethal weapons' on the general population,[15] the TECOM Technology Symposium in 1997 concluded on non-lethal weapons, “Determining the target effects on personnel is the greatest challenge to the testing community,” primarily because "the potential of injury and death severely limits human tests." However, "directed energy weapons that target the central nervous system and cause neurophysiological disorders may violate the Certain Conventional Weapons Convention of 1980. And weapons that go beyond non-lethal intentions and cause “superfluous injury or unnecessary suffering” could violate the Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions of 1977."


Interference with breathing poses the most significant, potentially lethal results.
Cavitation, which affects gas nuclei in human tissue, and heating, can result from exposure to ultrasound and can cause damage to tissue and organs.
Studies have found that exposure to high intensity ultrasound at frequencies from 700 kHz to 3.6 MHz can cause lung and intestinal damage in mice. Heart rate patterns following vibroacoustic stimulation has resulted in serious negative consequences such as arterial flutter and bradycardia. Researchers have concluded that generating pain through the auditory system using high intensity sound resulted in a high risk of permanent hearing damage.

[xoxoxoBruce]

The LRAD was designed by a small San Diego, California firm called American Technology Corporation. The company has sold thousands of the acoustic cannon since 2003, including large orders to the US Armed Forces. Following the al-Qaida attack on the USS Cole in October 2000 that killed 17 sailors, the Pentagon wanted a non-lethal weapon to defend its ships that wouldn't necessarily kill potential attackers.

[Pie]

To reiterate, killing is allowed, but not weapons that maim as their sole or main capability.

[xoxoxoBruce]

They are not maimed, they are temporarily disabled, and thwarted. They are only used to deter the pirates long enough until somebody can come and kill them.

But anyway, pirates don't come under the Geneva Convention, they're listed under vermin.

[zippyt]

I say Fuck'em they deserve what ever they get ,
Quad .50 cal All Around