The effectiveness of dazzlers for maritime security

A dazzler, sometimes called an optical distracter, transmits a visually intense light, usually in a narrow beam, in order to 1) attract the attention of a person and to make them alert to other visual or audible warnings against approaching a protected asset in a threatening manner, or 2) to suppress the actions of noncompliant persons (continued advance or aiming of weapons) by obscuring their vision with disability glare. Dazzlers feature in land operations, at military check points in non-combat land operations, to momentarily distract an assailant, to alert drivers in vehicles approaching a check point, and to alert civilian traffic to approaching forces. Dazzlers are being considered for maritime security; for port protection, counter piracy, and critical infrastructure protection to warn the occupants of small boats and for suppressing the vision of noncompliant persons who may be intent on attacking. The distances of initial detection and warning for maritime operations are generally much longer (on the order of 300 to 3000 m) than the distances in land operations (50 to 300 m). Dazzler aiming is furthermore likely to be under automatic control rather than handheld as in land operations, in order to more control dwell time against a distant contact, and to provide a large operator-dazzler separation for operator safety in counter piracy. The requirements for dazzler effectiveness therefore change when going from land operations to maritime. Models of disability glare are used here to model and study the effectiveness of dazzlers for maritime security across changing ambient light conditions, with aiming uncertainties, and for different types of sources (coherent lasers versus incoherent spotlights). Key requirements for specifying a dazzler system are considered.