Dark Tech: Laser Blinding Weapons

A noiseless, undetectable, battery powered weapon capable of neutralizing hundreds of enemies without killing them? Meet the dazzler.

The idea of blinding enemies has always been around. Searchlights were even used to dazzle bombers during WWII. The idea isnâ??t new, but the military weapon that came out of it is. A laser powered dazzler was reportedly first used in combat by the British during the Falklands War of 1982. The dazzlers were mounted on Royal Navy warships to dazzle Argentinian air attacks. The United States has also used dazzlers against Iraqi insurgents in the massacre of Kurdish civilians at Chamchamal.

Weapons that can cause permanent blindness have been banned by the United Nations on 13 October 1995. As long as the dazzler at hand is not designed to cause irreversible and uncontrollable loss of vision it is allowed to be used in the combat field. The thinking behind this is that permanently blinding enemeies is inhuman.

How Do Dazzlers Work?

Have you ever stared into the sun or a light bulb? If so youâ??ve probably experienced something call an afterimage. Focusing on something in front of you is hard when the afterimage is still burned into your retina.

The dazzler works the same way. By using a specific green laser at a specific wavelength (532nm) and megahertz (4-12Hz), a dazzler can effectively burn an afterimage into your eyes. The directed light hits your entire retina and thus the effect is across your whole vision. Your vision does come back after a while, but some adverse effects may also be experienced. Nausea, dizziness, headaches, eye pain, and vomiting are all common symptoms of being dazzled.

Uses

Dazzling gives the military a non-lethal alternative to neutralizing enemies or slowing down unknown motorists. Dazzlers are often used at stop points or on convoys to slow down any suspicious incoming vehicles. The idea behind using dazzlers at stop points is that you donâ??t have to yell at the incoming vehicle to slow down, or translate your message, etc. Being flashed with a dazzler is the universal language for “slow down, we mean business.”

Dazzlers arenâ??t always the safest most reliable weapons. From 2008 to 2009 there have been 45 documented injuries to soldiers resulting from mistakes when using dazzlers. A few years ago a soldier accidently shot himself in the eye through a rearview mirror when trying to aim at an oncoming vehicle. The laser had traveled less than 6 meters when it him in the center of his right eye causing permanent damage. Dazzlers are now being designed with safety features in mind that reduce the power of the laser when the target is too close. Laser training requirements are also being raised to prevent further accidents from happening again.

Buy a Dazzler

If you have enough money or interest in buying a dazzler, you can! The Spider 3 Krpyton is 8,000 times brighter than looking directly at the sun. The range of the Spider 3 is 85 miles! You could probably signal down a commercial airplane with this thing! Wicked lasers, the company who created this awesome gadgets even claims:

‘If the laser was held using a highly stabilized mount (which we do not sell) and precisely in line with a satellite, the astronaut should be able to see a faint green hue,’ says Steve Liu, CEO of Wicked Lasers. ‘This kind of experiment would require explicit permission from that government’s space agency.’

While this guarantee may be real, it is a little unrealistic. On the other hand there have been many accounts of people using dazzlers to blind helicopter pilots.

On September 2009 a 25 year old man was acquitted of intentionally endangering a helicopter by trying to dazzle the pilot. His plea of guilt was:

‘I wasn’t trying to dazzle the pilot. I definitely didn’t mean to cause any hassle. I apologise for wasting police time’

Make your own

If you canâ??t afford buying a dazzler you can also make your own for under $250. Although it isnâ??t going to measure up to more expensive lasers, it can cause all the symptoms intended such as flashblindness, dizziness, and vomiting. The bedazzler is made up of flashing LEDs, and not actually lasers. Naturally its range would be limited, and will not reach 85 miles as the Kryton can!

After looking around at many dazzlers, a recurring thought kept coming back to me. Would a military grade dazzler or homemade bedazzler save you from a bear attack? Could it save you from a pack of deadly wolves and lions? If so I would honestly get my hands on one of these things the next time I go on a safari!

Article written by Octavian Ristea. (He has actually never gone on a safari…)

Click here to find out about the most powerful weapons ever detonated . . .

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Octavian is a technology enthusiast and blogger. He enjoys writing for App Comrade and keeping up with current trends. The last thing he would ever do is buy a pre-made computer from a store. He believes building your own computer is a great experience that everyone should try in their lifetime. On the side he likes experimenting with Linux, servers, and programming. He is not "l33t" or ever wishes to be, but he can manage well enough :) On top of running this site he also runs a web design service, an app marketing service and a web hosting service.

6 COMMENTS

  1. I´m glad that the laser weapons that cause permanent blindness have been banned. I saw a documentary on this weapon and they said that a sniper could blind hundreds of people using a simple battery. Initially, people wouldn´t notice a problem until their eyes started bleeding just before blindness sets in.
    Scary stuff 😮

    • Good point Octavian about if it was at night it would be noticeable, or even in the day, a laser fired into your eyes might make you wonder if something is just not quite right. Maybe drunk people or people sleeping or even people with no eyes would not notice of course. :Star-Struck:

      • Your quote marks are very weird. I´m (Your one quote mark, no space) I’m (My quote mark)

        I’m sure it has something to do with the keyboard you are using, and the settings on the computer, but I never thought there would be a quote mark with so much space… I’ve also never seen that before… So its probably aliens. ( http://www.csicon.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/Aliens-meme.jpg )

        As for your eyes starting to bleed that just sounds horrible. I figure shooting someone in the head will cause less extremists to sprout up rather then the speeches of a combatant blinded during war. You can go into war expecting you might die, but you can’t expect to be blinded. Its just one of those things were death is probably a better option, in my opinion. Besides you can’t burden a nation with hundreds of blind soldiers. Again that would only sprout up extremists and more hate for whoever is employing this torture.

        So I figure the UN says, “Sure what the hell, you can blind people for an hour or so… :D”

        Also I don’t really understand this part from the UN’s protocol. “For the purpose of this protocol “permanent blindness” means irreversible and uncorrectable loss of vision which is seriously disabling with no prospect of recovery. Serious disability is equivalent to visual acuity of less than 20/200 Snellen measured using both eyes.”

        Does that mean if it causes your vision to go to 20/180 its not going to be an issue with the UN? Wish they made that a little clearer.

        :Elvis: (wears glasses from now on out)

  2. If anyone wants to be blinded temporarily by slow loading eye candy, check this website out . . .

    http://www.circlesunoco.com/

    Beware: You may need to lock yourself in a dark room with sun glasses on after clicking this link.

    Bonus: Wait one hour and witness a pink candy floss stick appear with flashing fireworks and a petrol pump draped in tinsel.

    I dare you to continually stare at the screen and be hypnotised into a world of pink ‘My Little Ponies’ . . . You’ll never want to return . . . Mahahaa MAHAHAHAAAAA!

    Please do not click the link . . . do not click the link . . . don’t do it . . . :I-Wish:

    • PS: The whole site is based on ‘Earth Yoga’ – (you can see this in the title bar) as a petrol station’s website would be, naturally. :Woodstock:
      I think that space yoga sites are generally becoming unpopular now. To prove a point, how many websites based on space yoga have you come across lately? . . . Exactly.

      • Hahaha couldn’t stop laughing! I never noticed that stupid title bar as my eyes were being blinded by the horrid website.

        I think the theme is called Earth Yoga. Would explain the “based on earth yoga”. Either way the whole site is a little bit shady. As were all the employees when I went to speak to the guy!

        -Breaking news- high school boy gets raped when he tries to speak to client about website.

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