Recently I received a comment that a reader felt the idea of the Peak Beam Immobilizer sounded made it. I’ll admit the idea sounds pretty far fetched, but lots of ideas thrown into the military industrial complex meatgrinder sound crazy. Doesn’t mean companies and teams of men and women didn’t spend time and money tryin’ to make ‘em work – sometimes they do work. Remember the round, bouncing bombs the British used in the Rhur Valley in WWII? Pretty crazy eh!
But I digress – back to the concept that flashey light can immobilize people – we spoke before about the flashlight that makes people puke (since stated more accurately – Although disorientation, dizziness and nausea were quoted by all the designers as common effects, nausea is not the same as throwing up.) – but this one is another device built along the same lines. Officials of the Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate at Fort Eustis Va., are looking to Peak Beam Systems Inc. in Edgemont, Pa., to modify the company’s hand-held Maxa Beam high-intensity light for aircraft use.
EDGEMONT, PA – JUNE 25, 2007 – Peak Beam Systems, Inc., manufacturer of the world’s most powerful handheld searchlight, the Maxa Beam, has been awarded a federal grant for the development of a light-based personnel immobilization device for use on autonomous unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs). The grant is being administered through the U.S. Army Aviation Applied Technology Directorate (AATD).
The scope of work includes the design, testing, and development of a near-term, cost-effective, light-weight, high-intensity personnel disabling illumination system to support covert and non-lethal missions. Peak Beam will use the foundation of its existing Maxa Beam searchlight technology to develop an effective non-lethal Xenon Light system that will be mounted and demonstrated on a small unmanned rotorcraft.
The Maxa Beam system is a Xenon based searchlight that can be pulsed with a unique modulation strobe effect that results in immobilization to those within the beam. The powerful light can shine up to 7,500,000 candlepower and switch from spotlight, floodlight or stobe mode. By varying the frequency of the strobe the light can be used to disable and disorient enemies.
From patent application - Traffic signal lights showing dynamic patterns
[0008]In the article “Secret Strobe light Weapons of World War II” by David Hambling appearing in the May 17, 2008, issue of WIRED magazine, it is explained that the disorienting power of strobing weapons that use flickering lights to subdue criminals and insurgents was discovered at least as early as World War I.
[0022]A feature in New Scientist magazine on non-lethal strobe devices discussed new arms relying on flashing lights, like the “LED Incapacitator,” Peak Beam’s searchlight-based “Immobilization Device,” and Nanohmics’ non-pyrotechnic stun grenade.
[0028]If you shut your eyes it makes the weapon useless.” This one amuses everyone working in the field. If you close your eyes you can’t run away, you can’t fight back, aim a weapon or effectively resist arrest. You have immobilized yourself and made yourself helpless, which is exactly what the non-lethal weapon-makers have in mind. “If they close their eyes,” says Lieberman, “then I’ve got ‘em.”
July 18, 2009 at 10:45 pm
what is 7,500,000 candlepower in lumens, exactly?
July 19, 2009 at 12:40 am
As far as I can tell these are disparate units of measurement. Maybe 75 million lumens.
While candlepower and lumens are more popular measures of light output, neither really capture the actual useful light at distance. There are no commonly available instruments to measure either candlepower or lumens. Instead, formulas are used to estimate the “power” emitted by the light at the source of the light. The formulas can include size of reflector, bulb wattage, mounting position, shape of the reflector, etc. Formulas are specific to manufacturers and there are no universal standards. While an inch or meter is the same any where in the world, one company’s candlepower formula can be dramatically different from another company’s formula. Thus, some lights with multi-million candlepower may under-perform another company’s light with sub-million candlepower rating. Lumens have taken the place of candlepower for HID and LED light sources and are calculated using proprietary formulas as well. There are a few labs in the world (GE has one) that claim to possess the spherical chamber and instruments necessary to effectively capture and measure lumens. However, in most cases, the manufacturers of the lights rely on the manufacturers of the lamp assemblies to specify lumen output.
z – as far as I can tell – very bright.
August 16, 2009 at 4:05 pm
I comprr a torch of 50 wats the xevision or how much better a xevision wats 50? to deliver in Brazil