Counter-Personnel (CP) Non-Lethal Weapons (NLW) Technologies

Smoke grenades thrown by course instructors envelop Marines with Golf Company and Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, in thick, green smoke during a non-lethal weapons training exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 25, 2015. The Marines participated in a two-week NLW course that teaches various riot-control methods. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Fatmeh Saad/Released)
Smoke grenades thrown by course instructors envelop Marines with Golf Company and Echo Battery, 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, in thick, green smoke during a non-lethal weapons training exercise aboard Camp Lejeune, N.C., March 25, 2015. The Marines participated in a two-week NLW course that teaches various riot-control methods. (U.S. Marine Corps photo by Lance Cpl. Fatmeh Saad/Released)

POSTED:  December 1, 2019

BY: Dennis Metz, Richard Smardzewski, Caroline Lochner

This state-of-the-art report (SOAR) describes counter-personnel (CP) non-lethal weapons (NLW) technologies and provides a brief discussion of the CP NLW human effects characterization process. It also presents a brief overview of the evolution of CP NLW to include the establishment of the Joint NLW Program and the Joint NLW Directorate. This SOAR focuses on the CP NLW that are currently fielded, in development, and future NLW programs in the conceptual stage. In addition, information is provided on other relevant CP NLW investigational efforts that are not defined as a U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) acquisition program per DoD Directive 5000.01. Finally, a discussion is provided on CP NLW investigative efforts by foreign countries. The content of this report has been drawn from the vast experience of several DoD engineers and scientists embedded in efforts to develop and analyze CP NLW technologies as well as a wealth of reports by government agencies, universities, and industry.

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