Plans to roll out a non-lethal landmine that zaps intruders with 50,000 volts were discussed by security experts who met up in California last month. But while the device satisfies the 1997 Ottawa Convention, which bans explosive landmines, some experts question its safety and are concerned that it could breach international humanitarian laws.
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The electric landmine |
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Microwave beam weapon to disperse crowds
29 October 2001 |
The Taser Area Denial Device is based on the Taser electric shock weapon, widely used by police forces around the world. A pair of darts is fired at intruders from a distance of about seven metres, and a high-voltage electrical pulse is delivered through lightweight metal cables to the darts. The electric shock incapacitates the intruder by overriding their neuromuscular control (New Scientist print edition, 15 February 2003).
Each battery-powered TADD has up to 12 pairs of darts that can be fired independently at different targets, and is capable of delivering a total of 200 three-second shocks. "The goal is to immobilise the assailant or bad guy and then dispatch guards or police to take them away," says Marshall Toplansky of Tasertron in Scottsdale, Arizona, the company that developed TADD.
For example, a guard monitoring a perimeter fence through a surveillance camera can remotely trigger TADD if he spots an intruder. It could also be set up so that if infrared motion sensors spot an intruder, the guard is alerted and triggers the device. In both cases, human input ensures safety. This is called a "man-in-the-loop" system.
Wall mounted
So far the technology has yet to be deployed. But TADD could soon be used to upgrade the security systems at US nuclear facilities or replace conventional landmines for military use. According to Toplansky, security experts at Los Alamos National Laboratory in New Mexico who are responsible for handling the security at all US nuclear facilities, met with Tasertron in March at Kirkland Air Force Base, in California, to discuss using the technology in perimeter defences as part of an overall strategy to improve security.
Managers from Nevada State Prison Service have also expressed interest in the system, says Toplansky. Prison guards would find TADDs useful not just for perimeter security but also for controlling the prisoners inside. Wall or ceiling mounted units could be triggered during riots, for example, to stun prisoners.
Used under these conditions the technology does not seem much like a landmine. But Richard Lloyd of London-based Landmine Action is worried that the technology could easily be developed into something more ominous. "Inevitably this stuff leaks out to a much wider use. I think it would be foolish to rely upon marketing claims of limited use," he says.
Indeed, the US military are particularly interested in developing autonomous versions that can be dispersed across the ground to create no-go areas. Tasertron has so far only done the feasibility studies for such a system.
Geneva convention
More importantly, Lloyd does not believe enough research has been done to prove that this device won't kill. "If you're pregnant, a child or old, the effects of 50,000 volts are potentially lethal," he says.