Air Defense: May 14, 2003

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: The U.S. military is playing down a newspaper account that North Korea illuminated two Apache gunships flying near the border with South Korea in early March. The Washington Times reported that the two AH-64s were airborne about two miles south of the milewide DMZ when laser sensors on both aircraft went off. This indicates that the North Koreas may have acquired Chinese-made ZM-87 antipersonnel lasers, the world's only laser device designed for use against troops. The ZM-87 causes injuries to human eyes at just under two miles and can flash-blind out to six miles. The $1 million devices might also have been used in Serbia. - Adam Geibel 

For additional reading on Chinese development of anti-personnel lasers, see:
http://www.fas.org/nuke/control/ccw/info.htm
http://www.afpc.org/crm/crm163.htm
http://www.icltd.org/laser_weapons.htm


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