Radar as Death Ray?

[soothsayer]

<snip>

According to Aviation Week, the Pentagon is now developing active electronically scanned array (AESA) radars that could be used as weapons.

A bizarre historical twist to this story is that in 1934, a rumor was started to the effect that Nazi Germany had developed a death ray based on radar. Physicist Robert Watson-Watt was asked to check on the feasibility of such a weapon.

<snip>

Now it appears that AESA radars may have a weapons component. AESA radars are comprised of many small transmit/receive modules that each scan a fixed area; the antenna does not need to move to scan an area. They have an extremely fast scanning rate, higher range, multiple target engagement and can act as a jamming device.

<snip> Much much more here:
http://www.livescience.com/scienceoffiction/051024_death_ray.html

[Ready4Change]

1. My understanding, military AC radar systems already damaging

At short ranges, at least, I believe existing military radar systems are already damaging. Very similar to microwave radiation. Technicians take care to not stand directly infront of them when they are to be activated, lest they cook ones innards.

The idea of using them as a weapon, in an academic sense, is intriguing. Missiles have time of flight issues. Guns also, as well as being limited to firing just straight ahead. Using an AESA as a weapon would give an aircraft an aimable, instant hit capability, if it could be focused well enough to concentrate the energies sufficiently at a distance.

Out of the academic sense (ie: now thinking of this as something to use against people) it seems just as abhorrent as using bullets or bombs for the same purpose.