| A projectile that caused a high yield, low blast-radius
explosion on contact was developed to inflict massive trauma on the target
body. Theoretical application of such a projectile was on impact with
a single solider, the projectile would inflict disintegration to such
an extent his bloody-organs and dismembered body parts would be spread
over a wide radius. The extended effect of this would be to spread terror
amongst the rest of that soldier’s squad. The most effective delivery
would be from long-distance sniper attack, this would also give the effect
apparent spontaneous explosion adding to the terror effect of the weapon.
Cartridge Calibre .50 Bullet diameter .511 nt reverse tapered jacket. In trials, the projectile had the desired effect of spreading the target's body over a radius of up to 25 meters. The projectile was obviously effective at destroying the target, but the ensuing psychological effects on and response of squad mates had remained untested. Two squads from the 3rd infantry would be supplied for testing in the field in the North Waziristan area of Afghanistan. The test group comprised 20 privates and one sergeant. A Project sniper was installed in the area and the test squads were sent out on routine patrol of the area. A report was called in to two test squads to disembark from their APCS and to search on foot. Project sniper was given the all clear to proceed and to fire experimental projectiles into any 2 of the soldiers. Prior to discharge the first ground sniper was approximately 1,200 meters from the soldiers. The Squads were separated by about 30 meters from each other. The sniper fired one round into a member of the first squad and the second round into a member of the second squad. All members of each both squads were instantly covered in the blood of their squad mates. There had been no warning before the shots were fired. Two members of the first squad and one from the second fell within a second of the initial targets. In post-mortem, it was discovered that they had died from shrapnel. The explosions had created shrapnel from the targets assault rifles, which had disintegrated from the force of the explosions. One half of the remaining solider engaged their weapons in random directions within a further 3 seconds causing the death of a further 4 soldiers. 10 of the remaining 12 soldiers dropped to the ground in an attempt to take cover. The other 2 were clearly so shaken by the events of the previous few seconds that they turned and ran, prompting a farther squad member to join them. The sergeant made a desperate attempt to prevent the desertion, and clearly shaken pulled out his sidearm and threatened one of the fleeing soldiers. That solider drew his weapon and was shot by one of the sergeant’s squad mates. Attempting to remain in cover and desperately searching for the source of the original shots, the remaining 11 men retreated to their vehicles and made panicked radio reports back to their commend. An initial field testing, the experimental HY, LBR projectile
was successful. 2 squads consisting of 21 highly trained US infantrymen
had been reduced to 11 men within 10 seconds using only 2 projectiles
and the survivors were clearly suffering from devastating morale. |