Ban Urged on Lasers as Military Weapons : Technology: Activists at U.N. conference say blinding devices are ‘unacceptable way to wage war.’

Portable laser weapons designed to blind or kill an enemy with a silent, invisible beam are often a mainstay of the high-tech armories used in futuristic movies.

But these images have reached the clipboards of real-life military planners. Now pressure groups fighting for such weapons to be banned have brought their campaign to a U.N.-sponsored conference on inhumane weapons under way in the Austrian capital.

Lasers that can blind a human already exist and are not illegal under international law.

“Using blinding laser weapons is an unacceptable way to wage war,” said Ann Peters of the Washington-based lobby group Human Rights Watch. “Their use, production and transfer must be outlawed before they open an ugly new chapter in warfare.”

Human Rights Watch has identified 10 blinding laser weapons programs being developed by the United States, code-named the Laser Countermeasure System, or LCMS.

The British defense journal Jane’s Defense Weekly reported that, in March, China displayed a “laser interference device” at defense exhibitions in the Philippines and Abu Dhabi, provisional capital of the United Arab Emirates.

Sales literature openly stated that one of the major applications of the weapon was to “injure or dizzy” targeted individuals.

Russia, France, Britain, Germany and Israel are also developing laser weapons, Jane’s said.

“The military says the purpose of these weapons is to counter battlefield surveillance and would be used only to disrupt optical and electro-optical devices, such as binoculars, gunners’ sights and infrared sensors,” Peters said.

Laser Countermeasure Systems, some the size of an old box camera, can be mounted on an M-16 rifle and can fire a beam powerful enough to burn out the human retina from a distance of up to 1,000 yards, Human Rights Watch said in a report.

“There is no protection for someone using binoculars, and the laser will blind the person behind the binoculars before it destroys the optical,” Peters said.

Five of the U.S. tactical laser weapons have reached prototype form. One of them, known as Dazer, has been described as “hazardous to the eyes and skin” and “at peak power . . . voltage is lethal,” the Human Rights Watch report said.

Campaigners argue that they have nothing against laser devices designed for detection and targeting because they can often help pinpoint military targets and avoid civilian centers.

Although the focus of the U.N. conference is on curbing the use of land mines, Human Rights Watch--backed by other groups such as the International Committee of the Red Cross and Save the Children--is urging delegates to block development of all laser devices that can blind.

Sweden has responded by introducing proposals recommending that a ban be included in a new protocol to the 1980 convention on inhumane weapons.

The United States, supported by some Western nations such as Britain, said last week that it supports a ban on laser weapons “specifically designed to blind” but would not agree to eliminate lasers to counter optical or electro-optical devices.

“But lasers used against optical devices can still blind. The U.S. will not accept the principle that blinding is an unacceptable method of warfare,” Peters said.