Pentagon Tests Technology for New Stun Gun

A Pentagon office that helped develop microwave weapons that cause intense pain, lasers that temporarily blind people, and devices that emit intolerable levels of sound, is now working on a technology that uses electrical pulses to incapacitate people. If the research proves successful, it could lead to a new, more effective type of wireless stun gun.

Called the nanosecond electrical pulse (nsEP) project, the research focuses on using brief electrical pulses to temporarily paralyze an individual by disrupting the nervous system, similar to the way the Taser, another popular nonlethal device, works. But where this project differs from most other stun guns, according to the Pentagon, is that it could theoretically be built as a wireless system, and have a longer lasting effect.

Nanosecond electrical pulses may have applications for nonlethal weapons, but this rapidly developing area of biological research has also attracted interest because of its potential medical applications, including as a treatment for cancer. Though the Joint Nonlethal Weapons Program Office did not respond to questions about what researchers have been supported by their funding, the Frank Reidy Research Center for Bioelectrics at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia has emerged as the leading player in this field.