U.S. Army Purchases HMMWV-Mounted LRAD 500s for Select Combat Units in Iraq

American Technology Corporation, SAN DIEGO: American Technology Corporation (ATC), a leading innovator of commercial, government, and military directed sound products and solutions, announced today it has received new orders totaling over $300,000 for its proprietary Long Range Acoustic Device (LRAD) 500 from the U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force through ATC's reseller, ADS, Inc. The majority of the LRADs are slated for use by select combat units in Iraq protecting Army convoys. 
 
LRAD is designed to communicate with authority and exceptionally high intelligibility in a 15-30-degree beam in excess of 500 meters, and has the capability of emitting powerful warning tones to influence behavior, gain compliance, and determine intent. LRADs are currently deployed in a variety of government, military, and commercial applications around the world, including military deployments with the U.S. Marine Corps, U.S. Army, and U.S. Navy in Operation Iraqi Freedom. 
 
“These orders are a result of our working exclusively with the Army's Rapid Equipping Force to deploy LRAD 500 evaluation units into northern Iraq last fall,” said A.J. Ballard, ATC's vice president of government and force protection systems. “These units are designed for integration with the weapon on the HMMWV turret utilizing ATC's custom HMMWV mounting system. This LRAD 500 configuration provides the operator with a critical tool to hail, notify, warn, to gain compliance, and determine intent in host nation languages before escalating to a non-lethal or lethal response against unauthorized individuals or groups approaching Army convoys on foot or in vehicles. 
 
“Detailed reports from Iraq indicate that both the LRAD 1000 and LRAD 500 have been very effective in a host of land- and sea-based applications, including marine interdiction operations, controlling maritime vessel traffic, protecting critical oil infrastructure in the Persian Gulf, check point crowd control, internment facilities, convoy protection, and as a secondary means of long range communication. The integration of LRAD 500s onto select HMMWV's will provide a significant enhancement to the critical mission of convoy protection and, more importantly, has the potential to save lives on both sides of the device,” Ballard concluded. 
 
 
American Technology Corporation is shaping the future of sound through its proprietary directed sound products and technologies, which include: the award-winning HSS (HyperSonic Sound technology), LRAD (Long Range Acoustic Device) products family, NeoPlanar products family, Sound Vector technology, and others. The Company is establishing a strong portfolio of patents, trademarks, and intellectual property, including over 320 U.S. and foreign patents and pending patent applications to date.