Herat (Afghanistan) - The United States Army is dazzling Afghani drivers with laser light in a bid to prevent accidents with its convoys. Convoy crews have been testing out the GLARE weapon-mounted laser by shinning the beams into the windshields of slow and dangerous cars. So far the makers of the laser system, B.E. Meyers and Company, say the tests are a resounding success.
Soldiers mounted the laser on the .50 caliber gun on top of their Humvees. The GLARE laser has two blink speeds along with a solid green mode and is effective at up to 150 meters.
The green laser beams "dazzle" the target and neutralize aggressive behavior, according to B.E. Meyers. In the above video, you can see soldiers shining the beams at slow drivers and bicyclists. You can also see the beams hit cars that are about to pull into the convoy's path. The affected drivers usually stop and the company claims two accidents were prevented in one hour of testing.
Military convoys typically use a combination of fast driving, warning shoots and suppression fire to get out of tricky situations. However, shooting up the town obviously isn't the best thing to do when you are trying to win the hearts and minds of the population. Laser warning systems, like the GLARE, seem to give soldiers a non-lethal option of getting people out of the way.
