Active Denial System The ADS ( Active Denial System ) is an American non lethal weapon The U . S . military presented in January at a demonstration at Moody Air Force Base ( Georgia ) , a new nonlethal weapon that emits microwaves in order to disarm opponents and enemies disperse without causing physical damage . Called Active Denial System ( ADS ) , the arms causes a feeling of unbearable heat in the skin , forcing the enemy to drop their weapons and retreat . The equipment can reach a distance of just over 450 meters , range 15 times higher than the traditional non - lethal weapons . The microwaves emitted by the electromagnetic device military penetrate only 0 . 4 mm in human skin . Do not cause injuries , but cause immense discomfort , the feeling of a heat of 55 °C , which gives the impression that the clothes are about to ignite . Possible uses . The system should be installed on ships , planes and helicopters and used in routine security operations or combating terrorism . U . S . officials believe the technology could also be useful in areas of intense conflict such as Afghanistan or Iraq . Over the past decade , it invested 40 million dollars in the development of ADS . It is expected that the systematic production of new weapon has begun only in 2010 . Operation . The ADS is working with Microwaves one Frequency 95 Gigahertz associated with an Antenna can be directed to human or other targets at a distance of more than 500 meters . Household microwave ovens operate at 2 . 45 GHz , however . The votes of ADS electromagnetic radiation has a much higher energy density , the energy penetrates but only about 0 . 4 mm into the skin . The high energy radiation heats the water molecules in the skin within seconds to about 55 degrees , which is perceived by the challenged person as a pain stimulus and has to animate for flight . According to proponents should you encounter any permanent injury . Development . ADS has been in the 1980s by the U . S . Air Force ( Air Force Research Laboratory ) and the Joint NonLethal Weapons Directorate at a cost of more than 51 million U . S . dollars developed . Approximately nine million U . S . dollars were the volume of investment in testing on humans , with which we began in 2000 at the Kirtland Air Force Base . The ADS is now managed by the arms company Raytheon On behalf of the Pentagon developed . In the future , which are currently due to the size and mass or reduced on vehicles fitted ADS systems further . The plan is the development of custom systems for use at sea and Rebellion control from the air . By Silent Protection System Raytheon offers a stripped down version of ADS with a reduced range on the market . Use . For 2006 was the use of ADS systems in Iraq planned . According to a statement from Michael Wynne , the aims for the U . S . Air Force competent Secretary of State , ADS will now only been tested in the U . S . . According to the Sandia National Laboratories ADS systems are also to protect plants from the U . S . Department of Energy be used . Criticism . Brett Wagner extended from the California Center for Strategic Studies in July 2006 , a petition against the also " Rumsfeld ' s ray gun " called a radiation weapons . According to Wagner , they have violated a stand against the Geneva Convention is because the only goal of ADS is the generation of pain . Also due to the severe pain lasting trauma can occur , so they should be classified according to Wagner as instruments of torture . The procurement and the presence of such a system would therefore allow continued use of the weapon as an instrument of torture at least . Critics point could continue on the way to impractical conditions for tests in which subjects wear any glasses or contact lenses and wear have no metal objects like coins , keys , buttons or zippers with him or not . Neil Davison , an expert on non - lethal weapons by the University of Bradford , England , points out that virtually no radiation dose to be checked for persons whose freedom of movement , for example , restricted in a crowd is . As Edward Hammond of Sunshine Project found out about after the input of information act occurred in earlier tests , when used in the vicinity of settlements , water surfaces and soils specific risks that can use the weapon alarming . Even sweaty or wet clothing can contribute to increased impact and cause skin burns .