WN: Wired News:
"...real project is a non-lethal energy device called the StunStrike.
Basically, it fires a bolt of lightning. It can be tuned to blow up explosives, possibly to stop vehicles and certainly to buzz people. The strike can be made to feel as gentle as 'broom bristles' or cranked up to deliver a paralyzing jolt that 'takes a few minutes to wear off.'
Bitar, who is of Arab descent, believes StunStrike would be particularly intimidating in the Middle East because, he contends, people there are especially afraid of lightning.
At present, StunStrike is a 20-foot tower that can zap things up to 28 feet away. The next step is to shrink it so it could be wielded by troops and used in civilian locales like airplane cabins or building entrances.
Xtreme ADS also needs more tests to establish that StunStrike is safe to use on people.
But all that takes money -- more than the $700,000 Bitar got from the Pentagon from 2003 until the contract recently ended.
Bitar is optimistic StunStrike will be perfected, either with revenue from the laser pointers or a partnership with a bigger defense contractor. In the meantime, though, he wishes soldiers in Iraq already had his lightning device on difficult missions like door-to-door searches.
'It's very frustrating when you know you've got a solution that's being ignored,' he said. 'The technology is the easy part.'"
I'll bet these things really burn up th alkalines. This is exactly the opposite of the energy solution I proposed. (the part about harnessing the energy from lightning....not using electricity to make lightning)