What is generally understood by the term "non-lethal weapon"? In the classical version, this is a weapon, the principle of which is based on temporarily (up to several hours) depriving the enemy of the ability to independently perform actions coordinated in time and space without serious residual pathological changes in the victim's body. Obviously, the latest provisions on the absence of pathological changes in the latest samples of kinetic non-lethal weapons are not fully observed. It all started in the civilian sphere with stun guns.
One of the first were the electroshock devices "Laska" and "Laska-2" produced by NPO Special Materials. The principle of action of the series "Laska", like most shokers, is simple: the call of a painful effect that deprives a person of performing conscious actions. In the body, when struck by an electric shock discharge, there are convulsive muscle contractions, impaired motor activity and changes in the emotional response, a change in heart rate without disturbing the rhythm, a change in the respiratory rate, moderate damage to the skin in the area of contact of the electrodes. The most sensitive areas of the body to the stun gun are the head, neck, solar plexus and heart.
The second, in fact, a dead-end class, has become a barrel gas weapon, in which chemicals are emitted by means of a powder charge, while simultaneously passing from a solid state to a gaseous one. Typically, the active ingredient is a compound of irritant or irritant action in sufficiently low concentrations. Substances selectively irritate the mucous membranes of the eyes, upper respiratory tract and skin. Barreled "chemical weapons" and aerosol cans are usually charged with CN, CS, OC (oleorizin capsicum) and MNK (palargonic acid morpholide) gas. After a short stage of euphoria over the newfangled individual defense weapons, everyone realized that gas pistols and cylinders can only be used outdoors or in large rooms. And where people often suffer from malefactors (in car interiors and elevators), using "chemical weapons" is more expensive.
It was this fact that became one of the reasons for the emergence of non-lethal kinetic weapons, as it is called in the specialized literature on wound ballistics. For the first time such weapons were used in 1958 in a crowd control operation during mass demonstrations in Hong Kong. It is interesting that the shooting was carried out with cylindrical striking elements with a diameter of 2.5 cm, made of teak wood. Such a "projectile" was capable of inflicting considerable harm on a person up to fractures, so the elements were fired off with a ricochet at the legs. But even in this version of the application, it was not possible to avoid injuries - knocked out eyes, etc. The British took over the baton a little later, when in July 1970 they fired an L3A1 shot against an aggressive crowd. Naturally, everything happened in the rebellious Northern Ireland. Round Baton L3A1 has a caliber of 37 mm, a length of 15 cm and a weight of 140 g. In fact, it is a cannon shell made of hard rubber. This "form factor" was not chosen by the British police by chance: they required a flight range exceeding the throw distance of an average stone.
Round Baton L3A1 and mini grenade launcher for it. Source: radio-rhodesia.livejournal
By the way, the L3A1 flew inaccurately, capsized in flight, but if it successfully flew to the rebel's head, it could lead to severe injury and coma. It was for these humanistic reasons that the rubber shell was removed from service in 1974. On average, 55 thousand shots were fired in only 17 cases, a lethal outcome was recorded. Studies in Belfast showed that when injected into the face, L3A1 broke the bones of the nose, upper and lower jaw. Usually fatal injuries were received by minors who found themselves on the barricades. Adults withstood such injuries, but received brain bruises and subarachnoid hemorrhages. A rubber shell hit in the chest provided a lung contusion, while no danger was recorded for the heart. Again, all calculations and observations were valid for an adult rebel. The abdomen was also among the targets of the British police - out of 90 recorded hits, 3 were with critical organ damage. These are ruptured spleen, perforation of the small intestine, and one case of closed liver injury.
Serial Short Stop. Source: cartridgecollectors.org
Short Stop prototype. Source: cartridgecollectors.org
An instance of the final modification of the Short Stop. Source: cartridgecollectors.org
Foreign studies of the damaging effect of the 9-mm traumatic cartridge Short Stop on corpses in 1976 showed that at a distance of 1.5 meters, a plastic bag with small shot cannot penetrate the skull, but it does penetrate into the chest cavity. From a distance of 0.3 meters, that is, at close range, the skull can no longer stand, and the safest distance is 15 meters from the shooter - even the open skin of the Short Stop cannot penetrate in this case. Over time, rubber and small lead shot as the main material for kinetic non-lethal weapons gave way to elastomers, including polyurethane.
Kinetic elements L21A1 and L21A1 AEP. Source: Selivanov V. V., Levin D. P. "Non-lethal weapon"
L104A1 grenade launcher. Source: sassik.ivejournal
In 2001, the L21A1 shot entered the market, used with the L104A1 grenade launcher (English version of the German HK69) from Heckler & Koch. He was taught to rotate, which significantly increased the accuracy of the hit and, accordingly, allowed the police officers to somehow be responsible for the injuries caused. The mass of the novelty was 98 grams, and the muzzle velocity was 72 m / s with a maximum range of 50 meters. The L21A1 turned out to be a successful development, but nevertheless, if hit in the head, it could cause completely unwanted damage. In 2005, it was improved by adding the abbreviation AEP (Attenuated Energy Projectile - low energy projectile) and forming a damping hollow part at the head. It turned out to be an analogue of a boxing glove, softening a fist blow. The accuracy parameters of the L21A1 AEP are impressive: at a distance of 50 meters, 95% of the projectiles hit the target in the form of an ellipse measuring 400x600 mm.
The United States, like the United Kingdom, is famous for its freedom of speech and unshakable democratic values, therefore it has a wide arsenal for injuring its own dissent. In the late 1960s, demonstrators were fired at with wooden striking elements or cloth bags filled with lead shot or plastic shrapnel. The RAP element (Ring Airfoil Projectile - a projectile in the form of a ring with an aerodynamic profile), which went to local law enforcement agencies in the 70s, seemed much more humane to the Americans. It was a 33 g rubber ring. and a diameter of 63.5 mm, which has interesting aerodynamic properties: due to the section of the wing-shaped ring, the flight range was increased compared to conventional rubber projectiles. In addition, when the angle of attack during the shot was non-zero, the "ring" generally generated lift!
RAP and SoftRAP
M234 attachment designed for shooting RAP. Source: sassik.ivejournal
М16 with attachment М234. Source: sassik.ivejournal
The Americans turned out to be fictitious and built a "chemical" modification of Soft RAP, carrying an irritating irritant powder to the demonstrators. They fired RAPs from an M16 equipped with a special attachment M234, which worked from a blank cartridge and accelerated the kinetic element to 61 m / s at a distance of up to 50 m. It's paradoxical, but having made 500 thousand.rubber RAP, the Americans never used them and in 1995 they were removed from service. The reason was the lack of knowledge of the effect of such elements on a person - while half a million traumatic elements were still manufactured.
An almost obscene oxymoron called the term Non-Lethal Weapons one of the senior officials of the US Department of Defense. And, indeed, there is more political overtones here than real non-lethality. J. Alexander, former director of the Los Alamos National Laboratory's Non-Lethal Weapons Program, once said: "The United States will have great political advantages by being the first nation to proclaim a policy of projection of power through non-fatal means."
