Non-Lethal Weapons: A Fatal Attraction?: Military Strategies and Technologies for 21st Century Conflict

by Nick Lewer and Steven Schofield

Book Overview

This work looks at a new arms race which the general public has hardly yet heard of - the development of so-called non-lethal weapons such as blinding lasers, electrical stunners, infrasound... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1856494853
• ISBN13: 9781856494854
• Release Date: March 1997
• Publisher: Zed Books
• Length: 158 Pages

Customer Reviews

essentail for anyone interested in military affaris

When the Marines faced potentially hostile crowds during UN troop withdrawals from Somalia, they were equipped with weapons designed to incapacitate without maiming or killing. They had foam laced with tear gas, guns that ejected a sticky, quickly hardening material to slow the crowd's movement, small rounds of wooden pellets and hard sponge that could knock rioters down, temporarily disabling them. According to Nick Lewer and Steven Schofield, the two British authors of this highly readable and comprehensive monograph, such non-lethal weapons could in future include acoustic, chemical, and bacteriological agents that could incapacitate crowds (or terrorists) ever more effectively.In conventional regional conflicts, our chief concern becomes destroying the enemy's equipment while minimizing civilian casualties. Lewer and Schofield explain that the technology exists for weaponry of this kind, which could be used against rogue states, such as Iraq. It might include cruise missiles with electromagnetic pulse (EMP) warheads to render command and control centers inoperable; lasers to blind an enemy's optical equipment; caustic materials to disable tanks by fusing their moving parts or devouring their gaskets. The authors argue that these weapons are not simply capabilities in search of missions. Rather, they think, technology is converging with operational necessity, as the revolution in military affairs (RMA) allows us to improve our ability to deal with today's increasingly unorthodox and irregular battlefields. U.S.forces trying to draw order from chaos, respond to terrorist threats, operate in urban areas, and attack a regional bully's army but not his civilian population will continue to see the advantages of non-lethal weapons. This book presents a whole host of ethical, legal, and operational issues raised by the development of such weapons. Can the expectation of minimal casualties be met? What percentage of bruising ordnance may inadvertently kill? What international laws or domestic statutes - passed in an earlier technological environment - might the use of such weapons violate? How might the public react to weapons that blind but do not kill? These issues need exhaustive analysis as the Pentagon threads its way between operational advantage and domestic acceptability in deciding which non-lethal weapons it will incorporate into its post-Cold War operational doctrine. Above all, it will have to consider what constraints should exist on the development of weapons that would be more likely than their deadlier counterparts to be used against domestic dissidents?To ensure that its non-lethal arsenal not only complies with international and national law but registers domestic and global sensibilities, the Defense Department has established an interdisciplinary research and development advisory group. This new Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate will receive counsel from a Human Effects Advisory