The Active Denial System (ADS) provides a new non-lethal capability helping to fill the gap between the ’shout’ and ’shoot’ alternatives faced by our troops. It provides numerous advantages over existing non-lethal weapons, such as extended range and extremely small risk of injury, and it has the potential to provide a tremendous new capability for U.S. forces in support of today’s complex missions.
The Active Denial Technology hardware demonstrator (ADS System 0) represented the first integration of the key technology elements such as the millimeter wave source, cooling system, and antenna, among other things. In 2001, ADS System 0 successfully demonstrated that the technology could achieve desired effects at distances beyond small arms range, and set the stage for the next evolution of the technology, ADS System 1.
In 2002, the ADS was designated an Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration, a formal Department of Defense process to rapidly move mature technologies into the hands of the warfighter for military evaluation. During the ACTD, ADS was integrated and packaged into a mobile configuration. The platform chosen for ADS System 1 was the High Mobility Multi-purpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV).
The final phase of the ACTD, the Extended User Evaluation (EUE), concluded in September 2007. The EUE resulted in improvements in procedures and training of System 1. A more militarized version of ADS, known as System 2, was also developed under the ACTD. System 2 is the containerized version of the ADS that is transportable via a tactical vehicle.
Beginning in fiscal year 2008, under the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate sponsorship, the Air Force Air Armament Center, Eglin Air force Base, Fla., is leading a joint effort to bridge the transition from an ACTD to the establishment of a formal program of record.
