I'm not going to quote the article, but I will link it: http://www.frontpagemag.com/Articles/Read.aspx?GUID=C9DA8C22-A71D-4CE2-AC8A-277DAD7E766B

This guy is probably a crackpot, but his credentials appear real. He claims that the US has developed a ray gun which can instantly kill anyone hit by it. He goes on to say that the weapon can hit an area the size of a football field and kill everything in it. He believes that if the US used the weapon in Iraq, it would end the war more quickly and save more American lives and if this weapon is real, I don't doubt his assertion. But it would also result in huge causualities among the innocent populous, as the cowardly terrorists always hide amoung civilians. Has anyone else heard of this weapon? What is your opinion on the use of such a weapon in Iraq?

This isn't an opportunity to attack Bush or the war on Terror, it's a discussion of this "weapon" and if it should be used or not.

I'm starting to think that this is some sort of late and unfunny April Fool's joke. I can't find any documentation supporting his statements in the article on his website (where he claims all of the documentation exists).

i've heard about it i saw the 60 minutes special they did on it, i don't know which version is true but from what i think i know and have seen its only going to be used to disperse crowds not to try and kill people so based upon that i think it would be a good weapon to use anywhere to disperse an angry mob or do whatever

Yeah dude, that thing was in an episode of Future Weapons on the Discovery Channel. But it doesn't have to be lethal, there are various levels of power. The lowest being an extremely uncomfortable level of pain meant to force you to move away from where you were at the moment. It was developed mostly for safer crowd control/riot control. And IMO is way better than rubber bullets and tear gas, LOL.

And yes, it is very real.

i just think the guy in this article has no idea what he's talking about

Oh and it should also be noted that while it can target a range as large as a football field, it can also target a single person. This is an incredibly dynamic tool and should not be pidgeon-holed into a mass murder weapon.

Think about the implications of the ability to make someone abandon their bunker, or sweep for ambush...this could save so many lives it isn't even funny.

I know that there is a ray gun weapon and that it works, what I can't find support for is that it can be put on high to kill people in an area the size of a football field. That's what I'm left questioning...I have sent an email to the author of the article to see if he can answer my questions.

As I said, the man interviewed in the article claimed to have posted "documentation" proving that the ray gun could do what he said it can do, but the documentation doesn't exist from what I can tell.

no dude i saw this thing on tv there is a ray gun it actualy works and they have created a coil gun aswell!

Huh, wow, I really don't like the way that guy thinks about strategy. He only seems to see that is is usefull if it can kill. There are so many applications for it in a non-lethal state. I just don't get it.

UUmm...they already have something that will pretty much wipe out a football sized area.

Would you like it:

Tracked - M109 Paladin - self-propelled artillery

Winged - "Spooky" and "Spectre"
(and just who was the rednecked weapons engineer that put a howitzer in an airplane ?!?!?)

Bomb - Oh just pick - you can have it shocked, scattered, baked or blasted.

Crew-served - Mark 19 Grenade machine gun

Now - as a fire team, squad, or platoon Sgt - the ability to tone it down a bit, and just say "Go away, don't bother me" is more useful than wiping out a football field. I can already do the latter in pretty short order.

now my star wars dream can finally come true!!

It's a microwave gun. Old technology for the most part, they just only recently found a way to compact it to the size of a gun, that's all.

You want to see the future of military firepower? Check out the electromagnetic rail guns the Navy has been working on for years...

http://youtube.com/watch?v=y54aLcC3G74

It can fire 20+ ton projectiles at speeds in excess of 500 mph.

YYeeesssss....
Excuse me...I need some time in private..

we have a weapon that can hit an area the size of a football field and kill everything in it, it's called a 2,000 lb bomb, or a cruise missle.

STORMTROOPERS ARE NEXT!!!

The ADS (active denial system) is a crowd control messure that is still in testing phases. It was never designed to kill and has several saftys to ensure it does not put out enough power to kill anyone. They have tested it on crowds and a person simply can not stand in the beam long enough to be hurt. Even if the person could the only resulting injury would be equal to a 2nd-3rd degree sunburn but they would have to stand there for a long time. It is made to heat the water in the uper epidermis to give the sensation that you are being burned, no actual damage is done to the skin. The range is about a football field not the area of effect. The AOE is only about a 4ft square. If a person could stand to be in the beam for more than a few seconds then they would still be un hurt due to the weapons saftys. It has a safty that regulates the amount of energy the weapon puts out and there for the computer will not allow the raising of intensity. It also has a safty that will not alow the beam to be targeted on a living target for more than a safe amount of time. If you want to see this thing in action go to military channel online and look up the active denial system. The one they show on the there is the largest one built so far. Yes this weapon could in theory be modified without the safty mesures to kill someone, but you also run the risk of over heating the weapons internal componates. Keep in mind I haven done any research on this in a couple of months so there could have been some changes.

I think a 2 ton bomb takes out slightly more than a football field.

Or were you talking about depth of the crater in soft earth?

This weapon is real, as strange as it sounds, it does exist.

The ship mounted rail guns that they are working on are very cool. The standard size projectile (dont know the weight) is fired between mach 7 and 8. They are working on designing a 64-megajoule railgun which will be the largest one ever built. If your interested there is a small artical at http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military_law/4231461.html as well as several other sites you can just google rail gun, you will have to pick through some video game stuff but you can find the aticles.