Doubts about America’s ‘secret weapon’ in the campaign to capture Mr. Maduro

President Donald Trump revealed on January 24 that US forces used a weapon called the “Discombobulator” to disable Venezuelan military equipment during the raid campaign to arrest President Nicolas Maduro and his wife.

“They had weapons originating from Russia and China but couldn’t launch any. They pressed the button when we entered, but nothing happened. They were prepared to deal with us,” he said, adding that he really wanted to reveal the specifics of the weapons but could not do so.

Speculation about the secret weapon used by the US in the campaign to capture the Venezuelan President appeared after White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on January 10 shared on social networks an interview with a person believed to be Mr. Maduro’s bodyguard.

This person described how American forces emitted something like a powerful sound wave, causing soldiers to collapse and have nosebleeds, and some even vomited blood. Venezuela’s radar also suddenly stopped working for unknown reasons.

When asked about the “secret sonic weapon” in an interview on January 20, Mr. Trump said it was something “no one has”, but did not name it or use it at that time. “I think it’s better not to talk about it, but we have some truly incredible weapons,” the US President said.

However, CNN Quoting an anonymous US official, President Trump seems to have combined many different capabilities into a single weapon, which does not exist in reality.

“US forces used cyber attack tools to disable early warning networks and other defense complexes during the campaign. They also took advantage of available sound systems to cause confusion among forces on the ground,” this person said.

Elijah Magnier, a military and political analyst in Belgium, said that “Discombobulator” is just a general name for the tools available to the US military. He emphasized that there is no proven definition of “Discombobulator” and that the word is not a technical term.

“The most reasonable understanding is that the above term refers to an existing group of non-kinetic tools, not new equipment,” Magnier said.

Regarding the information that Venezuela’s defense system suddenly “did not work”, this expert said that it is difficult for sonic weapons to cause such an impact and this could be the result of electronic warfare, cyber attacks or operational errors.

Some scene images published after the US campaign showed that many combat vehicles of the Venezuelan Buk-M2E air defense complex remained in the warehouse and were destroyed by glide bombs, instead of being deployed in combat positions.

Magnier also believes that the symptoms experienced by “Mr. Maduro’s bodyguard” are not necessarily due to a new generation of sound weapons. “This effect could originate from the force of explosions, stun devices or disorientation tools. There is no public evidence to suggest the existence of a new type of weapon,” he said.

The US military has researched and developed a number of directed energy weapons, including systems designed to create deafening sounds to temporarily blind or deafen, or even completely disable the target.

One of the best known projects is the Active Defense System (ADS). The focus of the program is to develop a large vehicle-mounted device capable of emitting mm-wave energy beams that make the target feel like they are burning their skin, but leave no lasting consequences.

ADS is intended to be used primarily for crowd control purposes and to combat certain types of terrorist attacks, including suicide bombings. It’s unclear the current progress of the project and whether the device is ready for actual deployment, but there have been at least two different prototypes built before 2020.

Another type of less-lethal weapon often mentioned by the US military is the long-range acoustic device (LRAD). The system is designed to sound warnings, but is also capable of generating high-intensity sounds to cause shock and pain, mainly for crowd control purposes or to protect defenders.

LRAD and similar systems are controversial due to the risk of long-term damage to the target. Extremely loud noise not only causes short-term or long-term hearing damage, but has the potential to have a physical impact and lead to cardiovascular problems.

LRAD can be combined with a laser glare device, used to temporarily blind optical sensors and generate visual warnings. The US military is trying to use more effective glare devices on warships to jam electro-optical and infrared sensors.

Washington is also researching systems that can create the combined effect of LRAD, ADS and glare devices, focusing on new applications of laser-generated plasma.

However, writer Joseph Trevithick of the military website War Zone Note that a dangerous and important mission like the operation to capture Mr. Maduro requires the US to deploy more specialized equipment than usual, even those that are experimental and top secret.

A typical example is the assassination campaign of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden in Pakistan in 2011, when the US military used a special stealth version of the Black Hawk helicopter, never before made public.

The Delta special forces leading the campaign are also worth noting. Equipment belonging to Delta and other leading US forces is often only made public after many years of being put into use, or even kept completely secret.

“Those units are often directly involved in developing new weapons, which can be classified as top secret. If any force is equipped with strange directed energy weapons with the ability to neutralize the enemy, it will be Delta,” Trevithick said.