The British SAS (Special Air Service) will be equipped with deadly exploding bullets already in use by the US special forces. The bullets dubbed as the RIP or Rapidly Invasive Projectile will be used in newly issued high-tech weapons already in use by the US special forces.
The bullets are designed to kill on impact and will be issued to the crack squad in the coming weeks. The RIP, as the name suggests, is described as the most lethal ever made. Made by US company G2 Research (G2R), it is designed to splinter into eight pieces.
Each piece is as deadly as a single bullet.
The manufacturers’ website states: “It is capable of going through barriers such as sheet rock, plywood, sheet metal or glass and still performs its original intent. The bullet shreds through solid objects and, only then, expends its energy.”
The design of the ammo also reduces the risk of ricochet, as the target takes the brunt of the impact. A spokesman for G2R said they had tested the formidable weapons in a range of automatic, semiautomatic guns and rifles, with a 100% success rate.
Alongside the RIP, British special forces will also be issued with “hollow point”, which have a similar design but instead of splintering the tip of the bullet flattens out to cause a massive wound.
The new kit will be used in their new HK MP7a1 sub-machines – the same weapon US Navy SEALs used to kill notorious Al-Qaeda leader, Osama bin Laden.
The gun is widely viewed as the best close-range machine-gun in the world and is small enough to be hidden beneath clothing. Weighing just 2.65lbs, it fires 950 rounds a minute. Expanding bullets have been around since the 19th century, and are often referred to as ‘dum dum’ bullets.
The Declaration of St Petersburg in 1868 banned exploding projectiles of less than 400 grams and the Hague Convention of 1899 bans expanding bullets in international warfare.
