This page will list new variants of old weapons which appear to be developing rapidly.
The United States and other highly industrialized countries generally obscure visibility of these weapons to their publics in an attempt to overmanage their populations. As the development of these weapons takes off, less industrialized countries will eventually have an advantage.
It isn't clear yet if that incident was the result of a 'new' old weapon, but it's possible it falls into the biggest category of such weapons, the 'directed energy' weapon.
1) Directed Energy weapons
In 1968 there was an incident in which two powerful people met for an adversarial meeting in Washington D.C. One of the two walked in and set his briefcase on the ground, then the other did the same. The first person had a sophisticated, for the time, recording device in his briefcase. The other person, a little better connected, had a device in his briefcase which prevented the nearby recording device from working.
This is an immense category with all sorts of weapons.
There are highly secret gadgets used by police in many countries which depend on the abilities of these weapons being secret, so public discussion in these countries, including the U.S., is limited.
How extensive this enforced ignorance is, in the U.S., can be judged by looking at the visibility of fairly simple tools like parabolic mics. Although these have existed for many decades and are not secret, law enforcement uses them extensively, and aggressively avoids public discussion of them. Something that will come back to bite the U.S. as it loses power on the global stage.
Decades ago there was publicity about the 'electro magnetic pulse' released from nuclear bombs. This became supposedly less of a concern after new types of electronics were developed, but in truth it opened up a whole new field of weapons which will be getting publicity soon.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electromagnetic_pulse
In the 1980s Ronald Reagan started a project to use directed energy weapons as a defense against missiles, but people quickly learned that directed energy can incapacitate any electronic device which uses a varying current somewhere, in other words virtually any electronic device.
The implication, of course, was that no electronic device was safe from such interference if it were in line of sight of such a weapon. Any airplane could be brought down, any electronic control of any device stopped, etc.
This would have been the end of the global weapons industry if it became public at that time, and the only reason it will become public soon is because the various parties which shared the secret will create enough mayhem that it will be forced.
When a few countries were aware of these weapons, their inner circles included people who had strong motivation to prevent their use, because it interfered in other interests of theirs. With this motive in decline it is only a matter of time until private development of this weapon begins.
A lot of propaganda tools are used to prevent the public from interest in this sort of weapon, very similar to how the public was discouraged from understanding the simplicity of nuclear weapons. It's very possible that 'laser strikes on airplanes' are exaggerated as a part of that propaganda.
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/laser-strikes-airplanes-on-the-rise-faa/
Once these weapons burst onto the public consciousness it's likely air travel will become too dangerous to continue in many areas. The one positive factor is that many focused energy weapons disperse, unlike a laser, and cannot be used over long distances, though military R&D has solved that to some extent.
Because this type of weapon can 'cancel' most electronic devices it is a significant industrial sabotage threat, and is likely to contribute to the decline of melting pots vis tribal economies.
A hint in Russian media involving these weapons, but no mention that they have been developing for many decades, and it is only strategic courtesy which so far has kept commercial planes and other large electronic devices functioning.
https://english.pravda.ru/science/149497-havana_syndrome/
In Progress
2) Governments have been secretly studying genetic bioweapons for decades
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_biological_weapons_program
Other countries as well, but even more discreetly than the U.S.
The private sector is playing catch up, but if there are parts of the Covid sequence which are designed to target specific groups, it's unlikely the private sector will catch up in time.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s41588-022-01024-z
In Progress
3) Wildfires
Wildfires are a 'less ethical' weapon because they eliminate a lot of wildlife, but they can be devastating as political weapons.
One person in one country, with knowledge of a few subjects, can go to a competing country and place devices to start fires in hundreds of areas, even delayed ignition devices or devices triggered by an external signal.
This type of 'warfare' is more likely to be used as an insurgent weapon, since governments know that if they tolerate use of that tactic by their own forces they will risk escalated versions of that tactic in retaliation.
Wildfires have psychological effects as well, and the United States is not the only country where police go into an Orwellian frenzy to 'control' the firebug tendency in the populace.
In Progress