8th European Symposium on Non-Lethal Weapons

Toronto, Canada, May 1, 2015 (Newswire.com) - May 18-20, 2015 Venue: Stadthalle, Ettlingen, Germany

Some twenty years have already passed since the earliest deployments of NLW, and these equipment’s represent an important tool for most of the military and law enforcement personnel. Yet, despite many significant success stories and results, there are great uncertainties and, generally speaking, concerns among the public opinion, the media, and, as consequence, the policy makers, regarding the effectiveness vs. the risks. Technological developments are often slower than expected and in many cases forecasts and promises were not adequately fulfilled, causing growing uncertainties on the next achievements.

The 2015 symposium will build on previous symposia and follow similar holistic topics. The overarching theme will be to examine how fielded non lethal technologies have performed in real operational environments, such as the ongoing civil unrest in the West and military involvement in parts of Africa and Asia.

This will provide a valuable opportunity to hear from, and discuss the lessons learnt across the many disciplines of this subject from a range of subject matter experts and operational practitioners. This will identify where gaps in capability still exist to steer future research. In addition the symposium will examine how progress in emerging technology areas seeks to fill known capability gaps such as effects at range. The symposium also intends to examine the emergence and use of non lethal weapons in a criminal content, both from offensive and defensive viewpoints.

The Symposium includes topics on current and advanced technologies, operational and tactical aspects, required capabilities, legal and public acceptance, effects on target as well as the evaluation of effects. The listed topics should only be considered as guiding principles.