'US should first test non-lethal weapons at home'

Washington: The United States should test non-lethal weapons it has developed for crowd control or police actions at home before using them for military purposes overseas, Air Force Secretary Michael Wynne said.

"We need to start using that here in the United States on Americans," Wynne told reporters. "If we're not willing to use it here against our fellow citizens, we should not be willing to use it in a wartime situation."

He said use of non-lethal weapons such as high-powered microwaves in wartime situations could lead to loud protests by those targeted about injuries or health effects.

"If I hit somebody with a non-lethal weapon and they claimed that it injured them in a way that was not intended, I think I would be vilified in the world press," Wynne said. Such weapons were still being reviewed by the military's medical experts, he said.

Small enough

Wynne also said it could take some time before the technology was small enough to put aboard a fighter jet. "Right now, that continues to be the stuff of great novels."

Last year, a US defence official who asked not to be named, said energy beam weapons that cause a burning sensation could be mounted on combat vehicles under a pilot project. And in May, the US Army said it had given troops in Iraq a laser device to temporarily blind drivers who ignore checkpoints.