Active Denial System

The Active Denial System, usually shortened to ADS, is a directed-energy weapon developed by the United States military for area denial, perimeter security and crowd control. It is informally called the heat ray because it works by heating the surface of whatever it strikes, including the skin of people in its path, rather than by firing a projectile. Development was sponsored by the Department of Defense Non-Lethal Weapons Program, with the Air Force Research Laboratory as the lead agency. The system was deployed with United States forces in the war in Afghanistan in 2010 but was withdrawn without being used in combat. In August 2010 the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department announced that it intended to put the technology into operational evaluation at the Pitchess Detention Center to break up fights among inmates. As of 2014 the system existed only as a vehicle-mounted weapon, with the Marines and police working on portable versions, and reports said that Russia and China were developing their own versions. Raytheon marketed a reduced-range version of the technology.