Project Sheriff: ADS Continues to Jump Through Hoops

ADS mounted on Hummer

Airmen of the 820th Security Forces Group are busy these days. Not only are they conducting the user trial and training for the GSAT ShotSpotter + ScanEagle anti-sniper system, they're also the first unit selected to conduct the extended user evaluation portion of the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstration (ACTD) process for "Project Sherrif," otherwise known as the Active Denial System. ADS won Popular Science magazine's "Best of What's New Award" in general technology back in 2001, and DID has been covering this system since May 2005; despite funding and requests from combat commanders, however, the system continues to move toward approval at a very slow pace.

ADS uses invisible, focused microwave beams at a frequency that that can't penetrate human skin, but does stimulate nerves within it, producing an imaginary but painful burning sensation that instinctively forces people to move away. Past Project Sheriff reports also describe an escalating series of measures, from a "Long Range Acoustic Device" (sonic blaster), up to a Laser Dazzler, then on to the ADS pain ray before things escalate to live ammunition. Tech. Sgt. John DeLaCerda, the NCO in charge of the 820th SFG advanced technologies section, put it this way:

"Right now, we don't have a medium between shouting and shooting when determining an adversary's intent… When operating ADS, you can be at a distance even further than small arms range and still repel an individual…. ADS has been very effective, and we're getting a lot of positive feedback."

A September 2005 DID article noted the role of the Pentagon's Office of Force Transformation in (aka. "Project Sheriff") as an alternative to sometimes-lethal plastic bullets or even live ammunition in order to control hostile crowds. DID has covered the ADS' long and winding road before, from our initial May 2005 article to an August 2005 follow-on re: human volunteer testing. In December 2005, we linked to a DefenseTech report that had the ADS headed into Iraq.

It has not been deployed there yet, much to the USAF's own puzzlement, though a February 2006 report noted both the authorization of $31.3 million for 3 deployable vehicles, and a request from the chief of staff for Multi-National Corps-Iraq for 14 ADS vehicles.

It is now almost February 2007, and 820th SFG Airmen are just now beginning to conduct a series of realistic combat scenarios to determine the system's "potential effectiveness in a deployed environment." Intended uses and scenarios include helping troops secure base perimeters, assistance at checkpoints and entry control points, peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance, and crowd dispersal/ riot control. The 820th SFG will incorporate the ADS into its training and exercise plan until mid-2007.

There is no word on a potential deployment date for the system. If any.