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thedrifter
03-25-04, 05:50 PM
Marines in Iraq trying out controversial new hailing and warning device


By Sandra Jontz, Stars and Stripes
European edition, Thursday, March 25, 2004



Troops in Iraq have a high-powered bullhorn, of sorts, aimed at getting their message across — either through amplified voice commands or an ear-piercing noise that could deafen those close by.

The Long Range Acoustic Device, or LRAD, is a hailing and warning device that can be used to command a speeding vehicle in the distance to stop, but also has the ability to unleash a deafening, high-pitched noise to disperse angry crowds.

San Diego-based American Technology Corporation received a $1.1 million contract to equip the California-based 1st Marine Expeditionary Force and 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, and the 24th Marine Expeditionary Unit in Camp Lejeune, N.C., with the LRAD system.

The device was developed in response to the deadly 2000 attack on the destroyer USS Cole as it refueled in a Yemeni port, said Capt. David Nevers, spokesman for the 24th MEU.

“We were interested in a tool that could help us at a safe, standoff distance, and hail approaching individuals or groups, get their attention and give commands and instruction to them in a safe manner,” Nevers said. “The LRAD, we found, is going to fit that bill nicely. Our primary concerns are force protection and to avoid a lethal encounter wherever possible. It’s a hailing device designed to get people’s attention at a safe, stand-off distance.”

The 45-pound “narrowcasting” dish on a stand comes equipped with an MP3 player that can boom prerecorded voice messages or let an operator speak extemporaneously.

While military officials said its intended use is to deliver messages from a safe distance for troops, the capability to deliver a high-pitched noise makes the system a nonlethal weapon, and an unapproved one at that, according to one critic.

“What I think is harmful is that we are using it in Iraq and on the Iraqi civilian population as guinea pigs for a weapons system that has not been fully aired and tested,” said William Arkin, a military analyst and frequent critic of the Pentagon.

It can deliver at a close range a sound measuring 145 decibels, louder than rock concerts or jet airplanes.

“That’s past the threshold for pain,” which is about 125 decibels, said Charles Lindsay, an audiologist in Exton, Pa.

“Anyone close to that would find it extremely painful and deafening. If you were right in front, it would probably knock you over and could cause permanent deafness instantaneously.”

“Oh my. I hope to God that person is using ear protection,” said Gretchen Syfert, an audiologist at the Arlington and Alexandria Hearing Centers in Virginia. “If I were talking to a patient, I would tell them it’s instantaneous that that could cause damage.”

According to ATC’s Web site, at 300 yards, LRAD’s highest sustained source level, the warning tone is 105 decibels, and the “oscillating and piercing LRAD warning tone is designed to be very annoying [similar to the effect of a very loud smoke detector].”

At a close range of 1 meter, the tone is 146 decibels. Smoke detectors register between 80 and 90 decibels. Rock concerts register between 110 and 120, and a jet engine at 140.

Hearing protection is required for operators of the LRAD, and 24th MEU Marines still are determining what level of protection to provide, Nevers said. At a minimum, those behind the dish wear earplugs, he said, and those in front most likely will wear double protection such as earplugs and headphones.

The LRAD is not classified as a nonlethal weapon because it’s not intended to be used as one, said Pentagon spokesman Lt. Col. Rivers Johnson.

“Its intended purpose was only to communicate at a distant with crowd by way of megaphone,” Johnson said. He did not know if the department’s nonlethal directorate precludes troops from using the piercing warning tone option.

“Could it be considered to be a nonlethal weapon? Yes. I wouldn’t deny the obvious,” Johnson said. “But that’s not its intended purpose.”

In order for a system to been classified as a nonlethal weapon, it must undergo “very extensive legal review and the human-effects review,” Corps spokesman Capt. Dan McSweeney said. The LRAD has not been put through any such reviews.

The system is safe when used properly, both to those in the beam and the operator, Carl Gruenler, ATC’s vice president of military and government operations, wrote in a March 16 rebuttal to an Arkin’s opinion piece in the March 7 editions of the Los Angeles Times.

“It’s not a weapon because it’s not designed to kill or injure, and it’s not a nonlethal because it doesn’t fit the definition,” Gruenler said. “While it might meet characteristics for a nonlethal capability, that’s not what it was intended to do.”

http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=21199


Ellie