Set phasers on "stun": Anderson company's space-age weaponry featured on Discovery Channel special "The Science of Star Wars.".

PETE BITAR WAS 11 WHEN the first "Star Wars" movie came out, but he quickly become enamored with the technology George Lucas dreamed up for Luke Skywalker. Now a busy executive at age 39, Bitar still found time to visit the cineplex within the first few days of the recent release of "Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith."

He can be forgiven his ongoing obsession, since his company actually makes space-age weaponry. But Bitar admits that the products of Anderson-based Xtreme Alternative Defense Systems are really more akin to those in "Star Trek," not "Star Wars"--specifically, when Captain Kirk ordered phasers set on "stun."

That's because Bitar really doesn't want to kill anyone. "Killing people has been done for a long time. You can always kill people," he says. The products of XADS, on the other hand, are designed specifically to be non-lethal. They include devices that fire lightning bolts to stun adversaries and handheld lasers designed to cause temporary blindness.

"We develop non-lethal directed-energy weapons," Bitar says. "That kind of weaponry and technology is capable of changing the nature of warfare."

The centerpiece of Bitar's developments is the Stun-Strike system, which he refers to as a directed-lightning weapon. In some ways it's like a Taser stun gun, but does not require the wires that a -laser fires at the target to deliver the incapacitating high-voltage shock. XADS is working on StunStrike devices that mount on military vehicles as well as stationary systems designed to deny access to specified areas, like an electric fence without the fence. Bitar says an airliner can be equipped with StunStrike technology to disable would-be hijackers, and a rifle-size device is in the works as well. He hopes to have StunStrike devices in military hands within a year or so.

Meanwhile, already being tested in Iraq are XADS "photonic disrupter" flash-blinding devices. Bitar says they're being tried as a non-violent way to get vehicles to stop at checkpoints when drivers have disregarded warnings to halt. In a number of well-publicized incidents, American soldiers have fired upon speeding vehicles approaching checkpoints only to learn that they were carrying families with children--or in one case, an Italian agent in the process of rescuing a hostage. So far, he says, the test is going well. "It immediately stopped every vehicle that tried to go through a checkpoint."

Bitar launched the company in 2002 after winning a Marine Corps contract to develop a new breed of weaponry. Housed in Anderson's Flagship Enterprise Center, XADS employs four now and hopes to triple its employment by year-end, Bitar says.

Its technology certainly is getting lots of attention. It has been the subject of numerous articles, and was profiled on a recent Discovery Channel special called "The Science of Star Wars." That, in particular, was a thrill, Bitar admits. After all, he became a huge "Star Wars" fan 28 years ago, "and I guess I still am."