It seems that for all the hoopla around them, the LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) used by the Japanese whalers are not too different from the car alarm on my neighbor’s car. Loud and annoying but hardly an effective weapon in any way, shape or form.
Are they using it wrong? Are the SS using some effective countermeasures? It is certainly not causing the disorientation and nausea and all around incapacitation they were billed to.
Are there any other LRAD being effectively used anywhere? I seem to remember a cruise ship fending off pirates while using it but is might have just been the captain skillfully outrunning the pirates.
The LRAD as a weapon? If you compare it to a machine gun bullet then yes it is not effective.
The LRAD is a hailing device and is used mostly to warn people away from ships and structures. It produces a narrow sound wave in the 150DB range that is clear to over 500 yards. While you could hurt someones ear with such a noise it is not by design a weapon that will kill you or cause you to vomit.
The whalers use the LRAD to warn away smaller boats. Anything that the TV show implies about it use as a weapon is purely a ploy by the show to boost ratings.
Not a weapon but a loud hailing device. Also I doubt your car horn can be heard more than a 100 yards.
Interesting. I had never heard of it being called a hailing device. Wired Magazine was often running articles on them as crowd control and repellent devices and non-lethal weapons.
What’s the point then of the Japanese whalers using it against the Sea Shepherds? They are all aware of the presence of each other and their intentions. I could see it being used as an “I saw you, if you were planning on the element of surprise, go away and try someone else” but in a group of ships engaged for hours it makes no sense.
If it’s aiming at you and you’re close enough (100 - 200 yards) it’s painful. Farther away it’s distracting and interferes with talking to people. The whalers are trying to make them stay farther away than they otherwise might want to be.
Same thing with the firehoses. There aren’t a lot of options in non-lethal force at a distance.