US and British soldiers to use ice as weapon

Blackleaf

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Cold ... 'Mr Freeze' Arnie
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U.S. to use ice as weapon


By TOM NEWTON DUNN
February 19, 2007


AMERICAN troops are to get a secret new weapon — artificial ice.

Soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan will put sheets of the substance on roads, alleys and rooftops to stop their enemies using them.

Their own boots and vehicle tyres will be coated with a chemical immune to the synthetic skid pans.

The Sun has seen a copy of the Pentagon document that reveals how the “Polymer Ice” weapon would work.

As well as preventing access to key ambush sites, it could be placed by GIs to stop attackers chasing them, the document suggests. The ice could be shot from a gun like Arnold Schwarzenegger’s villain Mr Freeze in the film Batman and Robin.

Or it could be contained in “a smoke grenade-like device”.

Troops will also carry an agent that can be sprayed on the blitzed area to destroy the ice before it is a safety hazard for locals. US commanders are expected to share the new technology with British troops - their closest allies - as soon as it is in regular service.

A US military source said: “To beat the insurgencies in Iraq and Afghanistan, we’re going to have to get creative.Polymer Ice should even the odds up a little.”

thesun.co.uk