When did Sonic Blasters become everyday weapons?

It is getting scary to read about all the “non-lethal” weapons being developed to use against people and crowds. Most of the time you think at least the police force and military has a weapon that doesn’t kill and if this is used against criminals, it is safer. But what if this becomes the weapon of use against anybody not necessarily criminals but for example a crowd of people demonstrating their cause? What if in the future any sort of verbal or visual disapproval of the government in power is seen as not protest but labeled anti-government or worse; terrorist and those weapons are used against you?

Why I bring this up is because I’ve read a news article earlier this week describing the unfortunate event that happened when on the East Coast of Africa (Somalia), a group described as pirates, attached a passenger liner. I will quote parts of the story from http://www.news24.com/ here:

“Pirates fired a rocket-propelled grenade and machine guns on Saturday in an attack on the luxury cruise liner Seabourn Spirit off the coast of the east African nation of Somalia, the vessel's owners said.”

"The ship's crew immediately initiated a trained response and as a result of protective and evasive measures taken the occupants of the small craft were unable to gain access to the ship," Dingle said.

Now what this article didn’t say but what was further discussed on http://www.timesonline.co.uk/ is the following:
“The liner used a sonic blaster to foil the pirates. Developed by American forces to deter small boats from attacking warships, the non-lethal weapon sends out high-powered air vibrations that blow assailants off their feet. The equipment, about the size of a satellite dish, is rigged to the side of the ship.”

Now here we are seeing that this “military” technology is available and used on civilian ships. I was really surprised to read this! Well it is great for the passenger liner to have this technology in this case, because who knows what would have happened if they managed to board the ship.
I just find it unusual to read what until now I thought was almost science fiction, using a “sonic blaster” on this vessel, to be reported as an almost everyday thing that just happened there. When did these weapons become standard issue for passenger liners? Are they being installed on other civilian transport like aircraft, trains, and private security vehicles?

Just getting back to the pirate story as well, I wonder if this is something we are going to see more off. Is this another way of making people think twice before they travel? Are we going to see an escalation of attacks on passenger liners and holiday resorts? Are these people as was described just pirates, thugs looking for quick cash or are they going to be labeled “terrorist” to further install the fear in people’s minds that terrorists are real?