UP Firm Made Non-Lethal Weapons Based On Mythology For Indian Army At China Border

A UP-based firm has created non-lethal weapons inspired by Indian mythology to help combat in conditions where they cannot use deadly arms and ammunition.

ANI

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The weapons, developed by Apasteron Pvt. Ltd., were created on request by the Indian security forces after its clash against Chinese troops in Galwan.

To the uninitiated, China and India had signed two agreements in 1996 and 2005 where both the nations had agreed to follow a specific protocol, which included certain understandings, to avoid escalation during face-offs along the Line of Actual Control.

The nations had agreed to not use lethal force against each other or even threaten to use force against each other. This is why in the Galwan conflict, Chinese troops were found using wired sticks and tasers against our soldiers. Despite which 20 Indian soldiers and four Chinese soldiers lost their lives.

Apasteron Pvt Ltd has developed Vajra, which is essentially a trident, reminiscent of the one used by Lord Shiva. The trident is non-lethal and is essentially a metal rod taser that can be helpful in hand to hand combat as well as is capable of puncturing their bullet-proof vests.

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Another weapon, dubbed Sapper Punch is essentially a pair of gloves that not just provides protection from the cold air but it¡¯s also capable of releasing a current discharge that can make enemies ineffective without causing injuries.

How do tasers work?

According to Spectrum IEEE, non-lethal electrocution weapons like Tasers (X26¡ªthe model commonly used by police departments) shoot a peak voltage of 1200 V to the body. Once the taser contact points establish a circuit, the taser creates a series of 100-microsecond pulses at a rate of 19 per second.

Each pulse carries 100 microcoulombs of charge, making the average current 1.9 milliamperes. To cause the muscles to contract without causing electrocution, the signal is specifically designed to hit the difference between the heart muscle and skeletal muscle.

Skeletal muscle comprises 40 percent of a typical person's body that connects via bundles of single-cell fibres that go all the way to the tendons attached to your skeleton. When the brain orders a muscle to flex, an electrical impulse hits a motor nerve to its termination at the midpoint of a muscle fibre. There the electrical signal switches to a chemical one, and the nerve ending sprays a molecular transmitter, acetylcholine, onto the muscle.

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In milliseconds, some of the acetylcholine fuses with receptors, dubbed gated-ion channels, on the surface of the muscle cell. When acetylcholine fuses with it, it causes them to open and release the sodium ions in the surrounding salty fluid to rush in.

This spikes the cell¡¯s internal voltage, opening nearby ion channels that get triggered by voltage. Eventually, a wave of voltage engulfs the fibre toward both ends of the muscle, with a speed as fast as 5 meters per second. As the voltage pulse spreads, it kick-starts the molecular machinery that contracts the muscle fibre.

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However, by jolting the motor nerves with electricity, a Taser stimulates the muscle and gets the same effect. Forces that cause the skeletal muscle to contract depends on the frequency at which its nerve fires. The amount of contraction caused is proportional to the stimulation rate.

At 90 pulses per second, dubbed tetanus, contractions can be dangerously strong. The Taser, however, releases 19 pulses per second, thus operating far from the tetanus region, making the muscles contract, but not so much that it causes injury or severe damage.

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