The Pulmonary Surfactant Degradation Carbine projects a narrow aerosol beam of catalytic nanoparticulate agents suspended in a pressurized carrier medium. When inhaled, the nanoparticulates bind to pulmonary surfactant molecules lining the alveolar surface of the lungs and initiate an enzymatic cascade that breaks down the surfactant's phospholipid structure. Surfactant prevents alveolar collapse during exhalation; without it, the lungs begin to fail in a manner clinically indistinguishable from acute respiratory distress syndrome — the alveoli collapse, gas exchange fails, and the target experiences progressive respiratory failure within four to twenty minutes of exposure depending on dose and individual lung capacity.

The PSDC-2 is unique among respiratory weapons in that it produces no visible external symptom until the target is already in critical condition. There is no coughing fit, no immediate throat burn, no obvious reaction at the moment of exposure. The target breathes in the carrier medium, experiences nothing unusual, and then — minutes later and potentially in an entirely different location — begins to feel short of breath. By the time they recognize the severity of their condition, they are far from the point of exposure and often far from help. This delay is the weapon's primary tactical feature and its primary atrocity.

Tessera Corponation's life sciences division holds the base nanoparticulate patents and licenses the formulation to Arcturus Defense Solutions for weapons integration, maintaining deniability through contractual separation. Surfactant replacement therapy administered within the first ten minutes of exposure can reverse the degradation process almost entirely; after fifteen minutes, the window closes rapidly. Street medics who operate in areas where the PSDC-2 has been used keep portable surfactant nebulizers on hand, and the presence of these devices in a medic's kit is sometimes used as informal evidence of what weapons are circulating in a given district.