CHICAGO: A US company is developing a gun that can fire bullets with variable speed and can be set to kill, wound or just cause a bruise.
Lund and Company Invention, a Chicago-based toy design studio, which makes toy rockets that are powered by burning hydrogen, is receiving funding from the US army to adapt the same technology for firing bullets as the army is interested in weapons that can be switched between lethal and non-lethal modes.
The new weapon, called the Variable Velocity Weapon System, lets the soldier use the same rifle for crowd control and combat, by altering the muzzle velocity. It could be loaded with "rubber bullets" to deliver blunt impact, full-speed lethal rounds or projectiles somewhere between the two.
The gun works by mixing a liquid or gaseous fuel with air in a combustion chamber behind the bullet. This determines the explosive capability of the propellant and consequently the velocity of the bullet, as it leaves the gun. |