page_title: Dazzler (weapon)
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Dazzler (weapon) / History
caption_attribution_description: English: A Dazzler mounted on a M240B machine gun during the Iraq War
context_page_description: A dazzler is a non-lethal weapon which uses intense directed radiation to temporarily disable its target with flash blindness. Targets can include sensors or human vision.
  Initially developed for military use, non-military products are becoming available for use in law enforcement and security.
context_section_description: Some searchlights are bright enough to cause permanent or temporary blindness, and they were used to dazzle the crews of bombers during World War II. Whirling Spray was a system of search lights fitted with rotating mirrors which was used to dazzle and confuse pilots attacking the Suez canal. This was developed into the Canal Defence Light, a small mobile tank mounted system intended for use in the Rhine crossings. However, the system was mainly used as conventional searchlights.
  Handgun or rifle-mounted lights may also be used to temporarily blind an opponent and are sometimes marketed for that purpose. In both cases the primary purpose is to illuminate the target and their use to disorient is secondary.
  The first reported use of laser dazzlers in combat was possibly by the British, during the Falklands War of 1982, when they were reputedly fitted to various Royal Navy warships to hinder low-level Argentinian air attacks. However, Michael Heseltine, the UK's Secretary of State for Defence immediately after the conflict, advised that whilst the dazzlers had been deployed they were not used.
  At the end of Operation Desert Storm, F-15E crews observing the Iraqi military's massacre of Kurdish civilians at Chamchamal were forbidden from firing on the attackers, but instead used their lasers as a dazzler weapon. This ultimately proved ineffective in crashing any attack helicopters.
  On 18 May 2006, the U.S. military announced it was using laser dazzlers mounted on M-4 rifles in troops in Iraq as a non-lethal way to stop drivers who fail to stop at checkpoints manned by American soldiers.
caption: A Green Laser Dazzler attached to a M240B during the Iraq War.
exif: {"Image Make": "Canon", "Image Model": "Canon PowerShot A590 IS", "Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "180", "Image YResolution": "180", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image DateTime": "2008:03:08 10:11:44", "Image YCbCrPositioning": "Centered", "Image ExifOffset": "196", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "180", "Thumbnail YResolution": "180", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormat": "5108", "Thumbnail JPEGInterchangeFormatLength": "5133", "EXIF ExposureTime": "1/160", "EXIF FNumber": "9/2", "EXIF ISOSpeedRatings": "200", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2008:03:08 10:11:44", "EXIF DateTimeDigitized": "2008:03:08 10:11:44", "EXIF ComponentsConfiguration": "YCbCr", "EXIF CompressedBitsPerPixel": "3", "EXIF ShutterSpeedValue": "117/16", "EXIF ApertureValue": "139/32", "EXIF ExposureBiasValue": "0", "EXIF MaxApertureValue": "139/32", "EXIF MeteringMode": "Pattern", "EXIF Flash": "Flash did not fire, auto mode", "EXIF FocalLength": "16", "EXIF FlashPixVersion": "0100", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "3264", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "2448", "Interoperability InteroperabilityIndex": "R98", "Interoperability InteroperabilityVersion": "[48, 49, 48, 48]", "Interoperability RelatedImageWidth": "3264", "Interoperability RelatedImageLength": "2448", "EXIF InteroperabilityOffset": "3178", "EXIF FocalPlaneXResolution": "43520/3", "EXIF FocalPlaneYResolution": "2448000/169", "EXIF FocalPlaneResolutionUnit": "2", "EXIF SensingMethod": "One-chip color area", "EXIF FileSource": "Digital Camera", "EXIF CustomRendered": "Normal", "EXIF ExposureMode": "Auto Exposure", "EXIF WhiteBalance": "Auto", "EXIF DigitalZoomRatio": "1", "EXIF SceneCaptureType": "Standard"}