EYE specialists say a laser weapon designed to dazzle soldiers could permanently damage eyesight, despite being dubbed "eye-safe".

Since 1996 the Geneva Convention has prohibited weapons designed to cause permanent blindness. But lasers that dazzle or cause temporary "flash" blindness are permitted. The Pentagon has already exploited this loophole with laser weapons called illuminators. These red-laser weapons illuminate an aggressor, who will then hide or flee after realising they are in someone's rifle sights. But while illuminators don't work well in bright daylight they are powerful enough to damage vision.

The Veiling Glare Laser, under development at the Joint Non-Lethal Weapons Directorate (JNLWD) in Quantico, Virginia, and at the directed energy bioeffects division of the Air Force Research Lab in San Antonio, Texas, is meant to solve both these problems. The VGL obscures a wide field of view by creating a dazzling wall of light that swamps your vision. It's ...