French seek blinding-laser-weapons ban

French seek blinding-laser-weapons ban

Amid world concern over its resumption of underground nuclear tests, the government of France is pursuing an international ban on military use of laser weapons that could permanently blind an enemy. France proposed the prohibition at the September 1995 Review Conference on the 1980 Conventional Weapons Convention (Vienna, Austria). According to French defense minister Charles Millon, the government is not averse to the use of lasers for other military purposes such as designating bomb or artillery targets, rangefinding, and communications. The French position comes in the wake of the US Department of Defense policy statement prohibiting blinding laser weapons.