Dazer is a portable rifle-like, shoulder-fired, non-scanning, manually operated tactical laser weapon.[35] According to USSOCOM, the Dazer prototype "is not routinely issued for training and will only be issued as a result of USSOCOM SOJ3 [Director of Operations] direction. The Dazer is normally reserved for operational missions."[36]
The system, which is battery powered and self-contained, was developed under contract for the Army by Allied-Signal Electro-Optical Products Division, Westlake, California.[37] It consists of a ten pound laser rifle, a twenty-three pound electronics package, a battery pack, and an optical sight (Simrad KN-200 or KN- 250).[38] Dazer employs a short-range (about one kilometer) near infrared spectrum alexandrite laser beam, and was tested around 1989.[39] Dazer's battery life is in excess of 1,000 individual shots, and the system may be fired single-shot or in a burst of up to fifty shots per minute.[40]
According to USSOCOM, there are no approved safety procedures for Dazer. It warns in its internal Fact Sheet that:
-The system can be highly dangerous to users.
-The Dazer is a high powered Class IV laser - the laser beam is hazardous to the eyes and skin.
-The Dazer operates at peak power of 1600 amps at 1450 volts. This voltage is lethal.[41]
Dazer is the unnamed system the Office of the Secretary of Defense referred to in its March 27, 1995 letter to Senator Patrick Leahy and Representative Lane Evans when it stated, "Another laser system, intended for special missions (not battlefield use), can blind and is operational in very limited quantities."[42] No additional details are known about current Dazer funding.