Tasers are used by police officers to immobilise people, but they must be used at close range. Now the US Marine Corps is testing a longer-range alternative: a projectile called SPECTER that contains tethered electrode darts.
SPECTER – Small arms Pulsed Electronic Tetanization at Extended Range – is being developed by Harkind Dynamics in Colorado with funding from the US Department of Defense’s Joint Intermediate Force Capabilities Office (JIFCO). The makers say SPECTER can be fired from any 12-gauge shotgun and claim it can hit a human-sized target at “100-plus” metres.
David Law, the technology division chief at JIFCO, says electroshock devices are the only non-lethal weapon proven to disable determined opponents.
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The use of electroshock weapons is controversial, and some studies cast doubt on their safety.
Tasers require conducting wires to deliver a shock and these limit their range, to 8 metres in the case of the latest Taser X7. Electroshock projectiles that can reach further have been developed before – for example, the Sticky Shocker in 1999. However, it could cause serious impact injury and was never deployed.
SPECTER reduces impact force with a braking system that senses the distance to a person with radar pings, and then deploys a parachute when it gets close. That halves the speed of the projectile, which ejects three tethered electrode darts forward when it is 1 metre away.
The electrode darts have sharp points to ensure contact through clothes. They shock with a novel electrical waveform that has less dramatic effects than existing devices. The makers say these shocks can make the victim “lose posture” – that is, they may fall over.
The projectile can administer further shocks if it senses movement, or if it receives a manual instruction to do so. The person who is hit is supposed to be unable to move or attack. The control system adjusts the electric pulse to give the minimum necessary charge.
Though SPECTER is described as non-lethal, that doesn’t mean there aren’t risks to using it. Removing a barbed dart could cause damage, and “if you cause victims to fall over there is a known risk of head injury and bone fractures”, says a spokesperson from Omega Research Foundation, a UK group which monitors security technology including weapons like SPECTER.
“Less lethal projectiles are generally woefully inaccurate. I would like to see accuracy and consistency data for SPECTER, and crucially high-speed footage to show consistent deployment of the parachute,” the spokesperson says.
“If the parachute did not deploy, then you have the danger of direct impact with blunt trauma and possible penetration. If it hits the head there is a risk of serious injury or death,” the spokesperson says. Harkind Dynamics did not respond to a request for comment on these risks before the time of publication.
Omega wants to see fully independent testing of the projectile and the new electrical waveform before SPECTER is deployed. Patrick Wilcken at human rights group Amnesty International also stresses the need for testing before such systems are deployed.
“Whatever designs are developed, they need to be independently tested to ensure that they are safe to use and comply with human rights law and standards,” says Wilcken.
Harkind Dynamics proved that all the subsystems for SPECTER work in the first phase of development. According to the original request from the US Department of Defense, in the second phase that starts this summer, Harkind will assemble prototypes and deliver a test batch of 100 rounds to the US Marine Corps.
If successful, the design is likely to be adopted by law enforcement agencies as a long-range supplement to Taser-type weapons.
