How hypersonic bullets could threaten the human body: a Chinese military team investigates
- Exceptionally high-speed projectiles differ from traditional gunshots in that they leave large craters in flesh, according to a new study
- More studies are needed to understand the deadly characteristics of the projectiles on biological targets, the researchers say
Hypersonic bullets leave large craterlike wounds in flesh, but do not penetrate the skin and flesh as a solid substance like traditional shots, according to a live animal study by military researchers in China.
The researchers from an army medical centre in the southwestern municipality of Chongqing fired high-speed 5mm steel bullets at sedated young male pigs to assess the potential impact of hypersonic weapons on the human body.
The bullets in the Chongqing experiment were fired at the thigh of each pig and reached a velocity up to 4,000 metres per second (about 13,000 feet per second), or more than 11 times the speed of sound.
The shots did not immediately kill the pigs, but shock waves from the bullets caused severe wounds throughout the body, according to a paper published on Monday by the researchers in Acta Armamentarii, an official journal run by the China Ordnance Society.
“Extensive damage to many organs can be seen at the time of injury, mainly including the fracturing of bones and bleeding in the intestine, bladder, lung and brain,” said the team led by Wang Jianmin with the Department of Weapon Bioeffect Assessment at the Army Specialty Medical Centre in Chongqing.
The pigs were euthanised six hours after the test.