Robo-Tasers for "Pipeline" Defense (Updated)

Tweet I don't know the history of Wired Magazine's "Danger Room," but this article definitely fits into that category. Read it all here (courtesy of Doug)--wait'll you get a load of this thing: http://blog.wired.com/defense/2007/06/robo-tasers-for.html

"Taser stun-guns are already controversial, in the hands of cops and G.I.s. Now imagine a whole field of the electric weapons -- out of human hands, entirely.

"Taser International recently rolled out its Taser Remote Area Denial (TRAD) system -- a networked series of sensors and stun-gun projectiles that promises to "observe, warn, incapacitate and retain intruders" from afar. Today, security teams have to be deployed to stop an intruder, when one is detected hoping over a fence or slipping through a gate. But that response takes time, and "exposes our forces to risk." What the TRAD provides, its makers say, is "a delay and arrest capability at key locations that can be employed instantly upon threat alert and assessment."

"An array of TRADs -- or a "TASERNET," in company lingo -- provides "the capabilities of visual observation and oversight coupled with the ability to engage and incapacitate targets remotely. The things are "ideal for protecting high value facilities or operations such as checkpoints, command centers, depots, aircraft insertions, and spec ops, as well as fixed installations such as embassies, air fields, utility facilities, pipelines, etc."