SAN DIEGO, Calif., 15 Jan. 2008. Engineers at American Technology Corp. (ATC), maker of directed sound products and technologies, expects to begin deliveries of its proprietary LRAD 1000X to the U.S. Navy this quarter.
The deliveries come under a contract awarded in October by the Naval Surface Warfare Center-Crane Division where the U.S. Navy selected ATC's LRAD 1000X (formerly referred to as an enhanced LRAD 1000) as its acoustic hailing and warning device (AHD) for large vessels.
The contract award paves the way for ATC's LRAD 1000X to be deployed throughout the 270 ships that comprise the U.S. Navy's fleet of large vessels. D
"Last week's harassment of U.S. naval vessels by Iranian speedboats underscores the need for LRAD 1000X deployments to enable military personnel to hail and warn targets at distance and help protect the crew and their ships," says Tom Brown, president and CEO of American Technology. "LRAD provides our fighting men and women an important capability to transition through the rules of engagement to determine a target's intent, and affords greater assurance that innocent lives on both sides of the device are not lost due to miscommunication."
Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) technology and products use high-intensity 15 degrees to 30 degrees focused acoustic output to communicate well in excess of 500 meters with authority and high intelligibility. Through the use of powerful voice commands and deterrent tones, large safety zones can be created around vessels while determining the intent, influencing the behavior, and gaining the compliance of a target. LRADs are currently deployed in a variety of government, military and commercial security installations around the world.