Fléchette
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

A flechette ( ) is a pointed steel projectile with a vaned tail for stable flight. The name comes from French , "little arrow" or " dart", and sometimes retains the acute accent in English: fléchette. They have been used as ballistic weapons since World War I. Delivery systems and methods of launching flechettes vary, from a single shot, to thousands in a single explosive round. The use of flechettes as antipersonnel weapons has been controversial.


Air-dropped

During World War I, flechettes were dropped from aircraft to attack infantry and were able to pierce helmets. Later the U.S. used Lazy Dog bombs, which are small, unguided
kinetic projectile A kinetic energy weapon (also known as kinetic weapon, kinetic energy warhead, kinetic warhead, kinetic projectile, kinetic kill vehicle) is a weapon based solely on a projectile's kinetic energy instead of an explosive or any other kind of payl ...
s typically about in length, in diameter, and weighing about . The weapons were designed to be dropped from an aircraft. They contained no explosive charge but as they fell they developed significant kinetic energy making them lethal and able to easily penetrate soft cover such as jungle canopy, several inches of sand or light armor. Lazy Dog munitions were simple and cheap; they could be dropped in huge numbers in a pass. Though their effects were often no less indiscriminate than other projectiles, they did not leave unexploded ordnance (UXO) that could be active years after a conflict ended. Lazy Dog projectiles were used primarily during the
Korean Korean may refer to: People and culture * Koreans, ethnic group originating in the Korean Peninsula * Korean cuisine * Korean culture * Korean language **Korean alphabet, known as Hangul or Chosŏn'gŭl **Korean dialects and the Jeju language ** ...
and
Vietnam War The Vietnam War (also known by other names) was a conflict in Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia from 1 November 1955 to the fall of Saigon on 30 April 1975. It was the second of the Indochina Wars and was officially fought between North Vietnam a ...
s.


Small-arms ammunition

The excellent ballistic performance and armor-piercing potential of flechettes have made the development and integration of this class of munition attractive to small-arms manufacturers. A number of attempts have been made to field flechette-firing small arms. Work at
Johns Hopkins University Johns Hopkins University (Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private research university in Baltimore, Maryland. Founded in 1876, Johns Hopkins is the oldest research university in the United States and in the western hemisphere. It consi ...
in the 1950s led to the development of the direct injection antipersonnel chemical biological agent (DIACBA), where flechettes were grooved, hollow pointed, or otherwise milled to retain a quantity of chemical or biological warfare agent to be delivered through a ballistic wound. The initial work was with the nerve agent VX, which had to be thickened to deliver a reliable dose. Eventually this was replaced by a particulate carbamate. 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. The USSR had the
AO-27 rifle The AO-27 was a Soviet assault rifle, chambered for the 7.62 mm fin-stabilized flechette sabot round. The flechette itself had a body diameter of 3 mm. The overall length of the round was 63 mm, and the flechette 55 mm. The ...
as well as the
APS amphibious rifle The APS underwater assault rifle (APS stands for ''Avtomat Podvodny Spetsialnyy'' (Автомат Подводный Специальный) or "Special Underwater Assault Rifle") is an underwater firearm designed by the Soviet Union in the ear ...
, and other countries have their own flechette rounds. A number of prototype flechette-firing weapons were developed as part of the long-running Special Purpose Individual Weapon (SPIW) project. The Steyr-Mannlicher ACR rifle was a prototype flechette-firing assault rifle built for the US Army's
Advanced Combat Rifle The Advanced Combat Rifle (ACR) was a United States Army program, started in 1986, to find a replacement for the M16 assault rifle. Under the stress of battle the average soldier with an M16 may shoot a target at 45 meters, but hit probability is ...
program of 1989–90. A variation of the flechette addressing its difficulties is the
SCMITR SCMITR was part of an experimental military shotgun ammunition created in the 1970s by AAI Corporation. It was a variation on flechette ammunition, but instead of containing a bundle of tiny needle-like steel darts, the cartridge contained a stack ...
, developed as part of the Close Assault Weapon System, or CAWS, project. Selective-fire shotguns were used to fire flechettes designed to retain the exterior ballistics and penetration of standard flechettes, but increase wounding capacity through a wider wound path.


Shotguns

During the Vietnam War the United States employed 12-
gauge Gauge ( or ) may refer to: Measurement * Gauge (instrument), any of a variety of measuring instruments * Gauge (firearms) * Wire gauge, a measure of the size of a wire ** American wire gauge, a common measure of nonferrous wire diameter, ...
combat shotgun A combat shotgun is a shotgun issued by militaries for warfare. The earliest shotguns specifically designed for combat were the trench guns or trench shotguns issued in World War I. While limited in range, the multiple projectiles typically u ...
s using flechette loads. These plastic-cased shells were issued on a limited trial basis during the Vietnam War. They were manufactured by the
Western Cartridge Company The Western Cartridge Company is an American manufacturer of small arms and ammunition that is based in East Alton, Illinois. Founded in 1898, it was the forerunner of the Olin Corporation, formed in 1944, of which Western is still a subsidiary. ...
and contained 20 flechettes, long and weighing each. The flechettes were packed in a plastic cup with granulated white
polyethylene Polyethylene or polythene (abbreviated PE; IUPAC name polyethene or poly(methylene)) is the most commonly produced plastic. It is a polymer, primarily used for packaging ( plastic bags, plastic films, geomembranes and containers including b ...
to maintain alignment with the bore axis, and supported by a metal disk to prevent penetration of the over-powder wad during acceleration down the bore. Cartridges manufactured by the
Federal Cartridge Company Federal Premium Ammunition is a wholly owned subsidiary of Vista Outdoor, located in Anoka, Minnesota. With a workforce of nearly 1,500, Federal manufactures shotshell, centerfire, and rimfire ammunition and components. History On April 27, ...
contained 25 flechettes. The tips of the flechettes are exposed in the Federal cartridges, but concealed by a conventional star crimp in WCC's cartridges. The flechettes had flatter trajectories over longer ranges than spherical buckshot, but combat effectiveness did not justify continued production.


Rocket and artillery use

Smaller flechettes were used in special
artillery Artillery is a class of heavy military ranged weapons that launch munitions far beyond the range and power of infantry firearms. Early artillery development focused on the ability to breach defensive walls and fortifications during siege ...
shells called "
beehive A beehive is an enclosed structure in which some honey bee species of the subgenus '' Apis'' live and raise their young. Though the word ''beehive'' is commonly used to describe the nest of any bee colony, scientific and professional literature ...
" 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 fuse, scattering flechettes in an expanding cone. During the Vietnam War 105 mm howitzer batteries and tanks (90 mm guns) used flechette rounds to defend themselves against massed infantry attacks. The ubiquitous 106 mm M40 recoilless rifle was primarily used as an anti-tank
weapon A weapon, arm or armament is any implement or device that can be used to deter, threaten, inflict physical damage, harm, or kill. Weapons are used to increase the efficacy and efficiency of activities such as hunting, crime, law enforcement, ...
. However, it could also be used in an anti-personnel role with the use of flechette rounds. The widely used Carl Gustaf 8.4 cm recoilless rifle also uses an Area Defence Munition designed as a close-range anti-personnel round. It fires 1,100 flechettes over a wide area. The US Air Force used rockets with WDU-4/A flechette warheads. The 70 mm Hydra 70 rocket currently in service with the US Armed forces can be fitted with an anti-personnel (APERS) warhead containing 1,179 flechettes. They are carried by attack helicopters such as the
AH-64 Apache The Boeing AH-64 Apache () is an American twin- turboshaft attack helicopter with a tailwheel-type landing gear arrangement and a tandem cockpit for a crew of two. It features a nose-mounted sensor suite for target acquisition and night v ...
and the
AH-1 Cobra The Bell AH-1 Cobra is a single-engined attack helicopter developed and manufactured by the American rotorcraft manufacturer Bell Helicopter. A member of the prolific Huey family, the AH-1 is also referred to as the HueyCobra or Snake. The AH ...
.


Russo-Ukrainian war

Flechettes have been used during the
2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine On 24 February 2022, in a major escalation of the Russo-Ukrainian War, which began in 2014. The invasion has resulted in tens of thousands of deaths on both sides. It has caused Europe's largest refugee crisis since World War II. ...
, where samples of the projectiles were recovered in the mass graves in Bucha. A witness described munitions bursting overhead and littering the area with 3 cm flechettes. A British munitions expert reviewed photographs of the flechettes and concluded that they likely came from a 122 mm 3Sh1 artillery round. A speaker for the
Ukrainian Ground Forces The Ukrainian Ground Forces ( uk, Сухопу́тні військá Збрóйних сил Украї́ни), also known as the Ukrainian Army, are the land forces of Ukraine and one of the five branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. They ...
stated that Ukraine's military does not use shells with flechettes.


See also

* Kinetic energy penetrator


References


Bibliography

* * *


External links


"How flechettes work"
''
The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...
'' newspaper
Missiles and Flechettes
—Pictures of air dropped flechettes, from World War I through the 1970s at big-ordnance.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Flechette Ammunition Flechette firearms Projectiles Shotgun shells