Airman hospitalized for 2nd degree burns following heat-beam test

Above: A truck-mounted Active Denial System, which shoots a beam of energy that makes people feel they are about to catch fire. Officials say it’s safe and humane. Second degree burns are considered superficial, but result in blistering, fluid buildup and pain.

An airman received second-degree burns April 4 during a test of the Defense Department’s nonlethal millimeter-wave heat beam at Moody Air Force Base, Ga., according to Marine Corps Maj. Sarah Fullwood, spokeswoman for the Advanced Concept Technology Demonstrator program, Quantico, Va.

The airman was burned as the Air Force’s 820th Security Forces Group was testing a demonstrator version of the Active Denial System, a Humvee-mounted system that produces an intense heat beam.

He was being treated at Doctors Hospital in Augusta, Ga., and is expected to make a full recovery, Fullwood said.

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