They shoot non-lethal ammunition at limited distances from almost everything: they use carbines, grenade launchers and cannons that send projectiles at a distance of 10 to 150 meters. The main problem in the design of kinetic ammunition that does not kill, but only hurts, is the increase in the contact area when it enters the flesh. There is a direct regularity - the larger the area of contact with the body, the greater the pain effect for a biological object without penetrating injury.
Rubber balls have become a classic among traumatic ammunition, the elasticity of which allows them to deform when they hit the body, without tearing the skin. Together with a low flight speed, up to 300 m / s, and a large caliber, such crowd dispersal devices leave only impressive hematomas on the limbs. In addition, rubber balls are relatively easy to manufacture and have satisfactory aerodynamics. But for safety reasons, they still have to fire from long distances, or shoot at the lower limbs with a rebound from the asphalt. Direct fire from 10-20 meters can lead to internal injuries to the abdominal organs. And only low-power injuries with a firing range of up to 20 m allow firing directly at biological objects.
A classic example of a domestic non-lethal ammunition is a 23-mm round with a rubber bullet "Volna-R", in which a rubber ball weighing 9.8 g acts as an impactor. A special KS-3 carbine gives the bullet an initial velocity of about 125 m / s, which allows it fly 70-80 meters.
Shot of 23 mm caliber with a rubber bullet "Volna-R": 1 - sleeve; 2 - rubber bullet; 3, 5 - felt wad; 4 - obturator; 6 - perforated wad; 7 - hunting gunpowder (according to the publication "Weapons of non-lethal action", V. V. Selivanov and D. P. Levin)
As mentioned above, engineers are struggling with the problem of increasing the contact area of the kinetic projectile with the human body in order to increase the pain effect without causing injury. But finding material for such a non-lethal ammunition is sometimes more difficult than for a classic combat bullet. Soft substances are perfectly flattened into a pancake when a person is struck, and their stopping effect is simply excellent, but they do not intend to retain their shape in the barrel of a weapon when fired, and therefore they fly at random and anywhere. One of the ways out was plated ammunition made of soft rubber and polyurethane, which maintain their accuracy with the help of stabilizers. This allows you to shoot him at a low initial speed at once at 40-50 meters, while the safe distance is reduced to 15 meters. In fact, this is a universal weapon of non-lethal action.
The main designs of the applied shots with kinetic elements (KE) of 18-23 mm caliber:
a - buckshot; b - feathered FE; c - EC (fabric bag with shot) with a tape stabilizer; d - several round FE;
1 - upper sealing cover; 2 - kinetic element; 3 - sleeve body; 4 - wad; 5 - propellant charge; 6 - primer-igniter (according to the publication "Weapons of non-lethal action", V. V. Selivanov and D. P. Levin)
An interesting idea seems to be the use of fabric or polystyrene covers filled with shot made of heavy materials (up to lead), stabilized in flight with a simple ribbon, as impact elements. The mass of such flying bags can reach 40 grams or more, and the degree of deformation is simply amazing - the contact area is several times larger than the caliber of the weapon. But making them is expensive and difficult (due to strict weight control), so they have not received widespread adoption. In addition, when hitting a person at long distances, severe tissue damage up to fractures is observed. This paradox has the following explanation: at large distances, the kinetic energy of the flying "bag" falls to such a low value that it does not deform much, but simply pierces the skin with all the ensuing consequences.
Exotic options for increasing the stopping effect are those that unfold in flight in the form of a "flower", which significantly increases the area of contact with the rowdy. A significant disadvantage of this design is disgusting aerodynamics, low accuracy and short range. Also, a relatively new trend is fragile striking elements that collapse when hitting the target, allowing you to abandon excessive elasticity and, accordingly, increase the effective range of the shot. In addition, you can throw elastic rubber rings into the crowd, which unfold in flight.
The design of kinetic elements (CE) of small caliber, allowing to increase the contact area in order to:
a - a fabric cover with a shot and its action on a solid target; b - FE in the form of a ring (1 - semicircle; 2 - samples; 3 - channel); c - FE, which is an excised hollow sphere in an undeformed state; d - FE in the form of a ball covered with a long pile; e - drop-down EC for long-range shooting (according to the publication "Non-lethal weapons", V. V. Selivanov and D. P. Levin)
Some grenade launchers have a caliber of 30 to 40 mm, which allows the use of a low density material that deforms perfectly when hitting an obstacle. The mass of such kinetic ammunition can reach 140 g, and the muzzle velocity is no more than 130 m / s. Mostly, engineers try to avoid the spherical shape of grenades of this caliber due to the low accuracy. Typically, elongated, round-headed elements stabilized in flight by rotation are used. An example of such a humane ammunition is the American XM1006 40 mm grenade, in which the warhead is made of high-density foam rubber, tightly fixed in a plastic pallet, which prevents the projectile from deforming in the barrel. During the shot, the protrusions on the pallet enter the rifling of the barrel, which gives the necessary rotation in flight.
The main designs of the applied shots with the FE caliber 37-40 mm:
a - shot with an XM1006 grenade (USA) with a foam rubber warhead (1 - warhead; 2 - pallet; 3 - sleeve; 4 - propellant charge; 5 - primer-igniter); b - Direct Impact shot (USA) (1 - destructible foam head; 2 - filler; 3 - body; 4 - primer-igniter; 5 - smokeless powder; 6 - 40-mm aluminum sleeve); в - modifications of the Arwen AR-1 grenade (Canada) (according to the publication "Weapons of non-lethal action", V. V. Selivanov and D. P. Levin)
The muzzle velocity of the KhM1006 is approximately 99 m / s, the maximum firing range is more than 40 meters, and the nature of the deformation of the projectile allows it to be effectively used against biological objects at ranges from 1.5 to 24 m.
In the United States, a similar round was adopted for the 40-mm Direct Impact grenade launcher, consisting of a plastic pallet body and a foam head, which can be equipped with various fillers. These can be tear irritants, marking and inert compounds. The action on the target is twofold - the intruder receives a sensitive hit from a projectile and a lot of emotions from a cloud of a chemical substance. The Direct Impact weighs 39 g and has a maximum firing range of almost 36 m.
The Canadian 37-mm Arwen AR-1 ammunition looks like a classic hand grenade with a rear conical part with a diameter of 20-24 mm and is another example of a modern non-lethal kinetic projectile. The design has two versions of the head part - monolithic and air-filled for greater deformation upon impact. The result is a semblance of a flying boxing glove weighing 78 g with an impressive range of 100 meters.
Blizitz shot of 56 mm caliber (a), kinetic element or "bag" (b) and Cougar grenade launcher (c) (France) (according to the publication "Non-lethal weapons", V. V. Selivanov and D. P. Levin)
French Special Forces soldiers with Cougar
The French, as always, turned out to be the most original and came up with a grenade for their caliber 57 mm, which is a bag with a solid filler. When hitting a person, such an element called Bliniz flattens into a "cake" with a diameter of 120 mm, knocking out the enemy with a probability approaching 100%. For such a shot, a special Cougar bag-thrower was developed, which throws striking 82-gram elements with an initial speed of 60 m / s at a distance of 5-15 meters.
In Russia, there are also shock-shock special shots with elastic elements, but more on that in the next article.
