New Underwater Bullet in Testing

New Underwater Bullet in Testing

Underwater Bullet

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The United States Special Operations Command (SOCOM) have recently been experimenting with a new type of bullet that would make it possible for Navy Seals and other special forces to shoot through water. Most regular bullets lose a lot of their momentum when traveling through liquid, this makes them effective only when fired at close range. The new bullet will make it possible for special forces to shoot straight up from under the water’s surface into enemy boats.

The tungsten tipped CAV-X bullet, developed by DSG Technologies, works due to the shape of the bullet nose creating a small air bubble as it travels through the water. This is known as supercavitation, the air bubble greatly reduces friction and drag on the bullet making it possible for it to travel much longer underwater.

SOCOM officials haven’t made comments regarding the bullet, however DSG’s chief science officer has stated that some of the tests will involve shooting up towards the surface from underwater.

However the company has hosted its own tests of the bullet, when a DSG employee fired the bullet through 17 feet of ballistic gel, a material denser than water that is used to test ballistics. In contrast, a regular bullet will only be able to penetrate a few feet of the gel.

The company has also released and demonstrated several other types of bullets, according to Defenseone.com. DSG has also demonstrated bullets that can shoot through sandbags, body armor, and 2 centimeters of steel without any ricochet.

The company’s CSO has mentioned that only recently has DSG been able to mass produce the special bullets. 

The CSO has also mentioned that the company is selling the bullet to other governments besides the United States, without mentioning which specific governments. However, he has mentioned that some of these governments have been testing the effectiveness of shooting the bullet from helicopters underwater in order to potentially take out submarines.

In tests that DSG has performed, the bullets were capable of traveling through 60 meters of water or penetrate 2 centimeters of steel through 17 meters of water.