Non-Lethal Weapons for Lethal Use.

Could non-lethal weapons be used to confuse and weaken a target to make it easier to kill with a conventional weapon? I am thinking specifically of LED incapacitators and LRAD weapons.
 
Could non-lethal weapons be used to confuse and weaken a target to make it easier to kill with a conventional weapon? I am thinking specifically of LED incapacitators and LRAD weapons.
What do you think flashbangs are?
 
What do you think flashbangs are?

True, flash-bangs could fall into that category. I was thinking more along the lines of using crowd control non-lethal weapons to subdue enemy troops, while at the same time opening fire on them. I have to admit I forgot about the flash-bangs though. Good point!
 
Well yeah.....is their an alternate history question involved in this?

Yes, what would have happened if recently in places like Egypt and Libya non-lethal crowd control devices such as large LED incapacitators and LRAD were used to disable a crowd before opening fire? Would the Arab spring still have happened? Would the slaughter have been so horrifying that no one would have wanted to protest in the streets?
 
Well, tear gas comes to my mind. You can certainly use it to disable unprotected enemy combatants before killing them. I think it's use in warfare is forbidden, though, as if it was a chemical weapon. In any case, it's of little use against a protected enemy.
 
Well, tear gas comes to my mind. You can certainly use it to disable unprotected enemy combatants before killing them. I think it's use in warfare is forbidden, though, as if it was a chemical weapon. In any case, it's of little use against a protected enemy.

I think this would work against enemy troops, more so after nightfall. They could conceivably wear sunglasses or shaded visor on a helmet during the day to reduce the LED effect, but at night that would not work. The LRAD could be used to deafen and disorient enemy troops, I don't think earplugs would work especially at close range.

I think if these weapons were deployed by the ruling government during the Arab spring it would have stopped it cold in its tracks. I believe that you may see that happen somewhere soon such as Syria. Meagerly armed rebels would not stand a chance if these weapons were used against them. It also would reduce structural damage from removing the need to shell an area.

Tear gas could be used in the same way to a much lesser extent.
 
Non-lethal tear gas was used extensively in Vietnam to flush out combattants for conventional weapons to kill.
 
LRAD and LEDs won't work if the truck carrying them is blown up.

Agreed. What if it were modified to be mounted on a armored vehicle? What if it were a battalion? I could see something like that with with a .30 mm seven barrel machine gun mounted on the front. The technology to do this has been around for a decade.
 
Non-lethal tear gas was used extensively in Vietnam to flush out combattants for conventional weapons to kill.

Exactly, that is what I am getting at. I think that history might be different, at least for the last decade if LED/LRAD were used to disable troops or slaughter large crowds wholesale. I would hope that the Pentagon has modeling for something like this.
 
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