Wired.com’s Danger Room reports Raytheon has sold its first Active Denial System, the “pain ray” which uses microwaves to push back approaching enemies. Weirdly enough, the defense giant isn’t selling the ray gun to the military, which begs the question: Can anyone buy one of these things?

“Paradoxically, it seems that the controversial ‘pain beam’ may be more acceptable in the civilian market than in the military — depending on how the weapon is used.Certainly, few people would object to the Active Denial System being used for zapping off pirates. The Long Range Acoustic Device, which produces an intense beam of sound, was used to fend off pirates attacking the cruise ship Seabourn Spirit in 2005. But it might be received differently if it was used in a prison or to repel intruders (or protesters) from company property.

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In the longer run, Raytheon believe that Active Denial might have all sorts of applications in law enforcement, prisons and protecting installations – not to mention chasing geese away from airports. One day a domestic version might even repel burglars.”

Raytheon is developing a smaller version of the ADS, so we should have a whole new sub-genre of YouTube video to look forward to if these things ever shrink to the size of tasers. 

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