What Is A "Mobility Denial System?"

"Wish we had a Mobility Denial System," thought Fred as he stared at the 2000 crazed looters.

 

In an effort to develop a non-lethal response to civil disturbances and various global threats, The Southwest Research Institute developed The Mobility Denial System (MDS) anti-traction system.

Essentially, this is just a fancy way of saying "giant amounts of sprayed lubricate jelly."

The porn industry can rejoice.

Well, not really.  It sounds like the distribution devices for this unit are quite volatile.

The first of these is a "gun" mounted to a vehicle such as a Humvee.  This device can squirt enough anti-traction goo to coat two football fields.  That's a lot of slippin' around, my friends.

A portable, self-contained dispenser that can be carried by a single person carries enough jelly to coat roughly 2000 square feet.  At 55 pounds, this wouldn't be the easiest thing to carry around...

The goo itself is made of a non-hazardous chemical with water as not only the means of disbursement, but also as the chemical's activating agent.  Upon hitting the ground (or building, or puppy), it becomes highly viscous.  This stuff can make anything from a foot soldier to a large vehicle lose traction.

Wouldn't crates of banana peels have the same effect?

I think this is a pretty neat idea.  It could be used to keep distance between U.S. military personnel and the enemy, or even as an "invisible" obstacle when setting up a defense perimeter.

However...

With the advent of Obama's presidency, Southwest Research Institute's MDS looks to be on the U.S. Defense's budget chopping block along with other high tech projects from companies such as Boeing and Lockheed-Martin.

Maybe I spoke too soon...

If enough of this jelly was manufactured, perhaps the porn industry can rejoice; they can purchase the overstock for pennies per barrel.

SOURCE: Southwest Research Institute