New Drone Killer Ammo Turns Rifles Into UAV Killers

Drones may be one of the big, upcoming things in warfare. But for every big new thing there's another big new thing that comes along as a counter. For drones, that seems generally to take the form of some kind of expensive, self-guided interceptor.

Or, you could just give a grunt a rifle with some ammo that breaks apart in midair and greatly increases the individual service member's ability to down drones, and gives the taxpayers a bargain, all at the same time. That's what the U.S. military’s Naval Surface Warfare Center is working on, and I have to say, it's intriguing.

The U.S. Military’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), has designed and developed the Drone Killer Cartridge (DKC). The cost-effective family of ammunition is designed to increase a warfighter’s probability of a hit and kill against drone threats.

DKC is designed for use in rifles, automatic rifles and machine guns, but it disperses a cluster of projectiles upon firing with an effective range far greater than a conventional shotgun’s capabilities. The effect increases probability hits and kills against Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats in a way that also minimizes risk of collateral damage from projectiles that don’t impact the target.

Of course, even with buckshot, a conventional shotgun's maximum range isn't all that long. But this new ammo would seem to combine some of the best attributes of rifle/machine gun and shotguns.

The DKC family of loads includes both pelletized and segmented designs. The segmented version includes a one-piece projectile that mechanically self-separates into discrete, spin-stabilized sub-projectiles prior to muzzle exit. Pelletized DKC includes a projectile assembly containing a stack of high-density, spherical buckshot-sized pellets mechanically disbursed at muzzle exit.

“We’re enabling extended range, shotgun-style effects through automatic rifles and machine guns with nothing more than an ammunition change,” said Brian Hoffman, man-portable weapons chief engineer at NSWC Crane. During a recent demonstration at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind., DKC achieved a 92 percent success rate against drones.

Here's my question. When will these be available commercially? Like any rural person with a predilection towards shooting, I'm sure I can think of any number of uses for these rounds. Plenty of shooters like to dabble in the unusual; that's why, when I wanted a .45 Colt lever gun to go along with my sixguns, I went for an 1860 Spencer replica instead of the 1892 Winchester clones everyone seems to have. And I'm sure I could find an unusual use for these, if they started loading these rounds in, say, the .338 Winchester Magnum. Heck, even in a small-bore rifle, like the AR-15 platform, these could be fun. I remember in fall back in Iowa when I was a kid, the huge flocks of invasive European starlings that would blot out the sun as they descended to steal feed meant for cattle. A magazine full of these rounds could make short work of such a flock, without requiring one to leave the back porch.

It seems pretty certain that, should the War Department start issuing these rounds to the regular grunts, they will find some creative uses for them as well. Nobody should ever underestimate the creativity of grunts with new toys. This will be no exception, and that's for sure and for certain.

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