Flechette
A flechette is a pointed steel projectile, with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French fléchette, "little arrow" or "dart", and sometimes retains the acute accent in English: fléchette. Standard pronunciation is /flɛˈʃɛt/ fleh-SHET.
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[edit] Bulk and artillery use
Smaller flechettes were used in special artillery shells called "beehive" rounds (so named for the very distinctive whistling buzz made by thousands of flechettes flying downrange at supersonic speeds) and intended for use against troops in the open – a ballistic shell packed with flechettes was fired and set off by a mechanical time fuze, scattering flechettes in an expanding cone. They were used in the Vietnam War by 105mm howitzer batteries and tanks (90mm guns) to defend themselves against massed infantry attacks. There was also a flechette round for the 106mm recoilless rifle, which was sometimes employed by American infantry. Heavier artillery, namely 155mm howitzers, 8-inch howitzers, and 175mm guns, did not have a flechette round and instead used either a standard HE round with a time fuze set to 0.0 seconds (resulting in detonation as soon as the round cleared the muzzle) or a double powder charge with no projectile, which inflicted casualties by the muzzle blast alone.
After work by Johns Hopkins University in the 1950s there was a concept for Direct Injection Antipersonnel Chemical Biological Agent (DIACBA) where flechettes were grooved, hollow pointed, or otherwise milled to retain a quantity of chemical biological warfare agent to deliver through a ballistic wound.[1] The initial work was with VX, but found that it had to be thickened for the flechette to deliver a reliable dose. Eventually this was replaced by a particulate carbamate.
The Israel Defense Forces have drawn criticism for their use of tank-fired flechettes in urban areas.[2][3][4] In 2008 a flechette round from an Israeli tank fired at Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana'a killed him along with two adjacent civilians.[5][6]
During the latest Russia–Georgia war, both countries claimed that the other was using flechette shells against urban targets, resulting in civilian casualties. While those claims are still to be investigated, it is known that several civilians (including at least one news reporter) were injured by flechette-type ammunition.[citation needed]
The 70mm Hydra 70 rocket currently in service with the US Armed forces can be fitted with an anti-personnel (APERS) warhead containing 96 flechettes. They are carried by attack helicopters such as the AH-64 Apache and the AH-1 Cobra.
[edit] Small arms ammunition
Small arms makers are also attracted by the exterior ballistic performance and armor-piercing potential of flechettes, and a number of attempts have been made to field flechette-firing small arms.
During the Vietnam War the United states employed 12 gauge combat shotguns that were used with flechette loads that consisted of around 20 flechettes per shell.[7][8] The USSR/Russian federation had/has the AO-27 rifle, and other countries have their own flechette rounds.
The US Biological Program also had a microflechette to deliver either botulinum toxin A or saxitoxin, the M1 Biodart, which resembled a 7.62 mm rifle cartridge.
A number of prototype flechette-firing weapons were developed as part of the long-running Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) project. Some of these showed up as entries in the Advanced Combat Rifle project as well.
An interesting variation of the flechette that addresses its difficulties is the SCMITR, developed as part of the Close Assault Weapon System, or CAWS, project. This project involved selective-fire, flechette-firing shotguns. The SCMITR was designed to retain the exterior ballistics and penetration of the standard flechette, but increase wounding ability by providing a wider wound path.
[edit] In popular culture
The Thomas Harris novel Black Sunday and 1977 film of the same name detail a fictional plot by Black September terrorists to set off a large flechette bomb at the Super Bowl. The plot involves using a plastic explosive charge to launch 220,000 flechette projectiles from a bomb attached to the cockpit of the Goodyear Blimp. Detailed scenes in the film show the creation and testing of the weapon, including a scene of the blimp pilot (Bruce Dern) preparing flechettes for proper placement in the bomb.
A variety of science fiction universes use flechette ammunition weapons, usually justified as something that will not penetrate spaceship hulls.
Several cyberpunk novels use flechettes as projectiles in silent personal handguns; both Molly Millions in Neuromancer and Hiro Protagonist in Snow Crash carry them. 3mm flechettes are also mentioned as the ammunition of "Reason", a super-Gatling gun, later in Snow Crash.
The latest installment of the Deus Ex video game franchise, Deus Ex: Human Revolution features a weapon known as the FR-27 rifle, which fires flechettes.
[edit] References
- ^ Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists May 1975 Vol. 31, No. 5 - 48 pages, "...using deliberately contaminated shrapnel or multiple-flechette — 'beehive'— munitions, as in the now defunct DIACBA development program of the US Army..."
- ^ Haaretz: Rights group: IDF must ban shell that killed cameraman in Gaza.
- ^ B'Tselem: Flechette Shells: An illegal weapon.
- ^ News24: Israel to use flechette shells.
- ^ Reuters cameraman killed in Gaza.
- ^ http://www.haaretz.co.il/hasite/pages/ShArtPE.jhtml?itemNo=976038
- ^ Franklin D. Margiotta (1996). Brassey's Encyclopedia of Land Forces and Warfare. Brassey's. ISBN 157488087X.
- ^ Frank Barnaby, Ronald Huisken, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute, 2nd Ed. (1975). Arms Uncontrolled. Harvard University Press. p. 109. ISBN 0674046552.
[edit] External links
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Look up flechette in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. |
- How flechettes work The Guardian newspaper.
- Pictures of air dropped flechette, from WWI through the 1970s.
