ABSTRACT
New developments in anti-personnel weapons derive from three main areas of physics: electricity, acoustics, and electromagnetic radiation. Electric generators, often of the kind used in field telephones, have been used as a means of torture during the interrogation of prisoners. Acoustic or sound waves have a mechanical mode of operation on the human ear. Infrasound has several properties which could make it attractive as a weapon. Two categories of light weapons have been investigated, light-flash devices and stroboscopic devices. It is significant that during the Lucerne Conference of Government Experts, a definition of incendiary weapons was promoted, particularly by the experts from the USA and the UK, which would exclude lasers from the category of 'incendiary munition'. Masers (which are analogous to lasers but which utilize the microwave part of the spectrum rather than the light part) may, in the future, find applications as weapons.
