Business Insider – by John Haltiwanger
The Army has a new non-lethal weapon to help soldiers in Afghanistan “irritate and deter” potential adversaries with pepper-filled balls, Army Times reports.
The non-lethal launcher, known as the Variable Kinetic System (VKS), is made by PepperBall Technologies. It fires projectiles much like paintballs containing a hot pepper solution.
“We are truly honored the US Army has selected PepperBall’s VKS to use as its non-lethal protection in its mission to defending the United States,” Ron Johnson, CEO of United Tactical Systems, which owns PepperBall,said in a statement.
“Our VKS platform was the only non-lethal source that was capable of complying to the US Army’s standards,” Johnson added.
The projectiles have a range of around 50 yards and leave a “debilitating cloud,” impacting the eyes, nose and respiratory system. The irritant, which is 5% pelargonic acid vanillylamide (PAVA) and a synthetic version of pepper spray, is released when the projectile makes contact.
The weapon is built like a paintball gun and can carry up to 180 rounds when it’s in “hopper mode” and 10 or 15 rounds when it’s in “magazine mode.”
The Army awarded a $650,000 contract for the weapons, which reportedly have the same controls and ergonomics of the M4/M16 weapons system, which many soldiers already carry. In other words, it will not be tough for most soldiers to transition into using these non-lethal launchers.
In total, the Army reportedly purchased 267 of the weapons, which are currently being used in training.
Weapons like this can help soldiers in high-intensity, urban settings and especially during crowd control situations.
Fill the little suns a britches full of gasoline that ignites on impact.
“We are truly honored the US Army has selected PepperBall’s VKS to use as its non-lethal protection in its mission to defending the United States,” ….oh paleeese……
‘Weapons like this can help soldiers in high-intensity, urban settings and especially during crowd control situations’……….translation: these weapons will soon be seen in the hands of cops over here
Well…it ain’t gonna work on wetbacks so y’all better start building up your tolerances to high scoville units. Mary is right.
On a happier note, it would be preferable for pigs to bring tabasco sauce to a gunfight!
Torture knows no bounds. It is cruelty without limit. To invent things like this, how very scared they must be.
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i’ll stick wIth lead projectiles…..
You do this , I’m all for it , let’s make this mandatory for the blue line gestapo to keep their murdering numbers lower
I know guys that will stand in line to eat this up .. literally , and have no problem ,the hotter the better
While I’ll just keep with my high speed lead injection system
See you on the front lines