Non-Lethal Weapons & the Department of Defence

As part of SDI’s marketing efforts, we are promoting the BIP to various branches of the US Department of Defence (DoD).

This summarizes the overall process involved in getting weapons approved for use by the DoD and the various branches and related civilian agencies.

Although it varies from branch to branch the process generally involves the following:

• Defining individual organizational requirements
• Conducting Research and Development
• Reducing risk to the user

The cost of acquisition varies based on the type and sophistication of equipment being considered and the organizational regulations. It takes less time to conduct research on a non-lethal 40mm round than an acoustic weapon for crowd control.

Non-lethal technologies fall into five categories:

• Chemical
• Electrical Devices
• Blunt Impact Munitions
• Direct Energy
• Miscellaneous/Hybrid Systems

Research and development funding on non-lethal platforms

Whatever the complexity of the technology, the end result is to provide value-added non-lethal weapons capability to the user. Within the civil law enforcement community, the cost to conduct R&D on weapons and the level of funding available varies dramatically among organizations.

In larger federal and state agencies, budgets generally range from several $1000 up to $100,000. In smaller local law enforcement departments, R&D funding for non-lethal weapons and equipment development is minimal and in most cases non-existent.

SDI’s role

For many years, civil law enforcement organizations have relied upon non-lethal technology manufacturers and developers like SDI to design weapons and equipment to buffer this lack of R&D funding. The National Institute of Justice also contributes R&D funding through its annual grant process.

In most cases, civil law enforcement organizations purchase commercial-off-the-shelf (COTS) items directly. Various forms of field testing are done in-house to determine their effectiveness. In most organizations, some formal acquisition board or committee examines manufacturer information, field test results, and reviews legal, ethical, and acceptability issues prior to determining approval for use.

Image credit: By David B. Gleason from Chicago, IL - The Pentagon, CC BY-SA 2.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=4891272

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