A WEAPON that delivers a debilitating electric shock to its victim without the need for wires is being developed in Germany.

New Scientist has seen video stills of a prototype of the "Plasma-Taser" in action during firing-range tests. The pictures were shown at the European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons in Karlsruhe two weeks ago. In the first image, a spray of dark gas is seen approaching a human-size target. In the next, taken a fraction of a second later, there is a lightning-like flash of electrical discharge intended to incapacitate the targeted person.

The Plasma-Taser, developed by defence company Rheinmetall W&M in Ratingen, is similar to the Taser weapon used by US police forces (New Scientist, 15 February, p 34). In an ordinary Taser, a pair of darts are fired at a target from a distance of about 7 metres, and a high-voltage electrical pulse is delivered through lightweight ...