OPERATIONAL SCENARIOS
“Give me examples of how you would use non-lethal weapons.” This is the most common request at a non-lethal weapons briefing. Even after being told about the capabilities of these new weapons systems, almost everyone asks for real-world situations in which they could be used. Every study about non-lethal weapons I have been involved in has started by developing a set of scenarios, then devising weapons that have the capabilities to solve that particular problem. While somewhat limiting the scope of each study, these scenarios provide weapons developers and military planners with concrete circumstances from which they can hypothesize requirements.
Therefore, Part III provides the reader with four vastly different scenarios for the use of non-lethal weapons. They include peace support operations, technological sanctions and strategic paralysis, as well as domestic police encounters. While they are my own works of fiction, they are all based on real-world situations and are all technically feasible, though some of the weapons would require additional development. None of the applications should be viewed as U.S. military doctrine or as policy for law enforcement agencies. Also, they are not the only possible situations in which non-lethal weapons would provide a valuable adjunct to existing systems. Rather, they are designed to allow us to integrate the weapons with possible operational concepts.