QUANTICO MARINE BASE, Va., 18 May 2012. U.S. Marine Corps researchers are asking industry for ideas on developing new non-lethal weapons technologies and materials involving directed-energy weapons such as electronic rays and laser beams, as well as chemical agents and even blunt-impact weapons as part of a request for information (RFI M6785412JNLW4) issued Thursday called Non-Lethal Weapons Research and Technology Development ID/IQ.

This RFI, issued by the Marine Corps Systems Command (MCSC) at Quantico Marine Base, Va., is part of the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Program, which seeks to provide warfighters with a family of non-lethal weapons designed to incapacitate enemy warfighters or terrorists and their supply lines, while keeping deaths and permanent injuries to a minimum.

Marine Corps researchers want companies to identify themselves that could conduct research in several areas of non-lethal weapons development. Areas of interest include:

-- increasing the standoff range of human electromuscular incapacitation (HEMI) weapons. A HEMI stimulus causes muscle tetany to disable people temporarily;

-- using nanosecond electrical pulses to paralyze people temporarily by disrupting the nervous system;

-- using millimeter waves to repel people by causing cause an intense heating sensation of the skin;

-- studying the effect of blunt-impact weapons like rubber bullets, sting balls, bean bag rounds, and more sophisticated non-lethal munitions, and how to increase the range of today's blunt-impact non-lethal weapons;

-- studying advanced non-lethal RF directed-energy weapons and non-lethal laser weapons able to cause temporary blindness, painful heating of the skin, and other kinds of pain;

-- finding new laser sources that will make the fielding of a non-lethal laser weapons system more practical;

-- developing prototype directed-energy, electrical, mechanical, or chemical weapons that stop land vehicles or boats at effective ranges; and

-- investigating new payloads for non-lethal weapons and munitions.

Industry day scheduled

The DOD Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate will conduct industry briefings on military needs for non-lethal weapons technologies during an industry day from 7:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. on 22 June 2012 in the Gen. Alfred M. Gray Marine Corps Research Center auditorium at Quantico Marine Base, Va.

Industry day briefings will include presentations of program objectives, technical briefs, planned business approach, projected schedule, and a selection of responses to the recently posted requests for information.

Register for the industry day briefings by e-mailing the names of each person attending -- maximum four attendees per company -- to the Marine Corps's Alicia Owsiak at alicia.owsiak@usmc.mil and to Wesley Burgei at wesley.burgei@usmc.mil no later than 8 June 2012. Put JNLWP IDIQ Industry Day in the e-mail subject line.

Companies interested in responding to the Non-Lethal Weapons Research and Technology Development ID/IQ RFI should e-mail information to Alicia Owsiak at alicia.owsiak@usmc.mil and to Wesley Burgei at wesley.burgei@usmc.mil, also no later than 8 June 2012.

More information is online at https://www.fbo.gov/spg/DON/USMC/M67854/M6785412JNLW4/listing.html.