Bullets are capable of traveling a long ways, especially if they miss their initial target.
As a result, accidents, sometimes fatal ones, can happen.
The Army’s Armament Research, Development and Engineering Center (ARDEC) is working on safer projectiles in the form of self-destructing bullets that will literally fall out of the sky after becoming “aerodynamically unstable.”
In fact, ARDEC has already patented self-destructing bullets, which are filled with a flammable material that ignites when the bullet is fired then burns and reacts with another material within the bullet as it travels.
In turn, this reaction causes the projectile’s shape to morph as it travels and ultimately becomes aerodynamically unstable, where it then drops to the ground.
I’m not sure how practical this idea is for our military seeing as how precision and bullet accuracy is key over any distance, but it could find application in some sort of police work.
Or maybe just for the civilians who like target practice or hunting and are interested in self-destructing bullets capable of dying out after they hit a certain distance for safety purposes.
It will be interesting to see how this technology progresses so we’ll keep an eye out for updates.
