ADS was developed under the sponsorship of the Department of Defense Non-Lethal Weapons Program with the Air Force Research Laboratory as the lead agency. Marines and police were both working on portable versions. As of 2014, the ADS was only a vehicle-mounted weapon, though U.S.

On August 20, 2010, the Los Angeles Sheriff's Department announced its intent to use this technology to control incarcerated people in the Pitchess Detention Center in Los Angeles, stating its intent to use it in 'operational evaluation' in situations such as breaking up prisoner fights. The ADS was deployed in 2010 with the United States military in the Afghanistan War, but was withdrawn without seeing combat. Raytheon had marketed a reduced-range version of this technology. Informally, the weapon is also called the heat ray since it works by heating the surface of targets, such as the skin of targeted human beings. military, designed for area denial, perimeter security and crowd control. The Active Denial System ( ADS) is a non-lethal directed-energy weapon developed by the U.S.