Lawmakers Push Microwave Weapon That Can Stop Cars for Border Defense

(June 2) -- A weapon that uses a burst of high-intensity energy to fry a car's electronics is being touted by lawmakers as the latest military-inspired gadget that could be used to help secure the U.S. border with Mexico.

"The ability to stop vehicles of smugglers from a distance without making direct contact would give our Border Patrol agents a distinct advantage," Rep. Michael McCaul, a Texas Republican, said of the suitcase-sized weapon. "It would allow them to stop vehicles they may otherwise not be able to catch and in some cases avoid dangerous pursuits."

McCaul and Democratic Rep. Henry Cuellar, also from Texas, are leading a bipartisan effort to get advanced technologies to the law enforcement agents patrolling the southern border. Over the past few months, a growing number of politicians have called on the military to provide high-tech devices such as Predator drones to assist Border Patrol agents in their work.

But a device that fries a car's electronics would be an entirely new technology for border security. Such a system typically uses a microwave source to create an electromagnetic pulse, which disrupts the vehicle engine's electronic controls.

"Technology like this puts one more tool in the toolbox for our federal law enforcement at the borders," Cuellar said. "It's empowering equipment to combat illegal activity."

Although the lawmakers singled out the EMP Suitcase, produced by Texas-based Applied Physical Electronics, a number of other companies have also worked on vehicle-stoppers that use energy pulses to kill a car's engine, including Fiore Industries, Eureka Aerospace and Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems.

"The Car-Xapper requires direct contact, but can be pulsed through very thin wires, like a Taser, dangled over or next to a car at a checkpoint," Pete Bitar, president of Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems, told AOL News in describing his company's device.

The Department of Homeland Security, which has funded its own version of a microwave vehicle-stopper, has also worked on devices that rely on less exotic technology, such as SQUID, which stands for Safe Quick Undercarriage Immobilization Device. The SQUID, when deployed, sends out tentacles designed to wrap around a car's axles, bringing it to a swift stop.

Though DHS and the Pentagon have both funded microwave vehicle-stoppers, such devices have not yet been put into the field.