Non-Lethal Weapons offer viable options for addressing challenging scenarios in modern-day conflicts including peacekeeping operations, where the objective is to accomplish the mission and protect the force when lethal force is either unnecessary or even detrimental. Today, several states are actively engaged in countering terrorism, grey zone conflicts and armed conflicts resulting in high casualty rates for both sides. It would be valuable for the political and military leaders to consider the merits of Non-Lethal Weapons which are less likely to kill or to cause serious bodily injury than a conventional weapon, i.e., guns, missiles, bombs, yet help achieve the desired goal. Non-Lethal Weapons can include chemical and biological agents, electroshock devices, acoustic devices, optical munitions, blunt or rubber projectiles, traction modifiers, nets or rapid-hardening rigid foam, microwave technologies, noxious smells, and acoustical interference technologies.
The book looks at CALM (concepts, application, legal and moral) issues of use of non-lethal weapons in the current context. Besides the history, concept and design of various modern non-lethal weapons, it covers application for military and United Nations Peacekeeping operations in detail. The ongoing debate about legal and moral aspects of the use of force, in general, and non-lethal weapons, in particular, brings in a 360 perspective on the issue of non-lethal weapons before moving forward to exploring the field of neuro weapons and their implication.
U C Jha, a former Wing Commander, has extensive field and academic experience in international humanitarian law, military law and human rights law. His recent books include Protection of Prisoners of War, Biological Weapons: The Evolution of Military law in India; Ethics in the Indian Military; Killer Robots: Lethal Autonomous Weapon Systems: Legal, Ethical and Moral Challenges; Human Rights in the Indian Armed Forces: An Analysis of Article 33 of the Constitution; The Law of Armed Conflict; and Child Soldiers: Practice, Law and Remedies.
Kishore Kumar Khera is an independent analyst. He served as a fighter pilot in the Indian Air Force for 33 years. He was a pioneer member of Composite Battle Response and Analysis (COBRA) Group and headed the Operational Planning and Analysis Group at Air Headquarters. He was awarded Vayu Sena Medal in 2005. He was a Research Fellow at the Institute of Defence Studies and Analyses, New Delhi from 2017-19.
