New Delhi: Venezuela’s defence minister has accused the US of turning the nation right into a testing floor for superior navy applied sciences throughout the seize of President Nicolas Maduro and his spouse, Cilia Flores, on January 3. The minister claimed the operation concerned weaponry pushed by synthetic intelligence and instruments by no means earlier than seen on battlefields.
President Donald Trump described a weapon he referred to as “the discombobulator”, saying it “made tools not work” however declined to supply additional particulars. He additionally referred to a “sonic weapon” reportedly used in opposition to Maduro’s Cuban bodyguards in a closely fortified space.
Stories say that throughout the raid, some Venezuelan troopers and Cuban personnel offering safety to Maduro suffered casualties. The defence minister alleged that 47 Venezuelan troopers and 32 Cuban troopers died. He described the operation as a check of weapons “that nobody else on the planet possessed” and stated these had been deployed in opposition to Venezuelan forces.
White Home Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt shared accounts from a Venezuelan safety guard describing the results of a sound-based assault. The guard reported intense inner strain within the head, nosebleeds, vomiting blood and an incapability to maneuver. These claims couldn’t be independently verified.
Trump instructed NewsNation that the weapon used was in contrast to some other. “No person else has it. And we’ve got weapons nobody is aware of about. And I say it’s in all probability greatest to not discuss them, however we’ve got some unimaginable weapons. That was an unimaginable assault. Don’t overlook that home was in the midst of a fortress and navy base,” he stated.
The New York Submit later reported Trump calling the device the “discombobulator” and confirming it was designed to disable defensive tools.
In previous operations, the US has used gadgets like long-range acoustic gadgets (LRADs) and the lively denial system (ADS) to manage or disorient personnel. LRADs undertaking focussed sound waves over lengthy distances, generally inflicting vertigo, nausea or ache to drive compliance. The ADS produces intense warmth on the pores and skin to repel folks from delicate areas.
Neither system is able to disabling electronics or navy infrastructure.
Extra doubtless, any disruption of Venezuelan tools got here from nonkinetic or pre-kinetic strategies. Digital warfare (EW) can jam radar, block communications, manipulate GPS indicators and disrupt sensors. Cyber-physical operations can sabotage networks and industrial methods, as seen within the Stuxnet assault on Iran’s nuclear programme in 2009.
Directed-energy weapons and high-power microwave methods, resembling CHAMP, can selectively disable electronics with out leaving seen injury. Graphite or carbon-fibre munitions can short-circuit energy grids, inflicting widespread outages with out bodily destruction.
The method is identical, with communications, sensors and coordination disrupted first, adopted by bodily operations. These instruments are used to achieve an info benefit and management battle zones. Nations usually deploy new methods in precise operations to enhance them, together with stealth plane, precision bombs and cyberweapons.
The time period “discombobulator” just isn’t a verified technical designation. It doubtless refers to a mixture of those identified instruments somewhat than a single and futuristic machine. Stories of Venezuelan methods failing are in step with digital warfare, cyberattacks or weak integration somewhat than a brand new sonic weapon.
If any personnel skilled signs throughout the operation, these results could possibly be attributable to blast strain, flash-bang gadgets or different customary disorientation strategies. There is no such thing as a public proof to recommend a brand new kind of weapon was deployed throughout the raid.