By John Crump
U.S.A. –-(Ammoland.com)- Shooting bullets into water isn’t like the movies shows it. When a shot hits the water, it will only penetrate a few feet or skim off depending on the angle of entry. This reaction is because of the drag force of the water on the round.
Water has a high drag force compared to air. Also the faster the bullet is going, the more drag will be applied to the bullet thus causing it to decelerate faster than a slower moving bullet. Other factors also come into play such as the drag coefficient of the round that is fired from the gun into the water.
For Navy units such as the SEALs that spend time in the water, this problem can be a matter of life or death. The Norwegian company, DSG Technology, has tackled this problem with its CAV-X technology. This patented technology allows the bullets to travel from air to air, air to water, and water to water.
The round accomplishes this feat by using supercavitation in addition to designing the bullet to have a lower drag coefficient. These two principles combined makes a bullet that is capable of traveling through water. This round is not the first weapon to use supercavitation.
Multi-Environment Ammunition UUV – DSG Technology
Supercavitation is not a new technology at all. It has been employed by the Navy for years in torpedos. This use is the first time bullets have applied it. A lot of headlines claims the CAV-X bullets swim thru water, but this is a fundamental misunderstanding of what is happening when the round is fired into the water.
The supercavitation causes an air bubble to form around the bullet. Air has a lower drag force than water thus the bullet can travel further and faster underwater. Instead of swimming through the water the bullet is flying through the air bubble underwater.
In addition to 7.62, 5.56, 12.7, and several other rounds DSG Technologies is now offering a .50 caliber CAV-X round. Like the other rounds, the .50 caliber round will be able to penetrate water up to 60m. Right now the Navy uses expensive 30mm rounds to penetrate water.
This new .50 caliber round has a variety of uses. Countries like Iran use small boats to harass US warships. Firing standard .50 caliber rounds at these ships is dangerous due to the threat of a ricochet off the water that could potentially damage the US warship.
Another use of the DSG Technology CAV-X round is to defend against torpedoes. The Navy has a system called the Phalanx CIWS which is a Gatlin gun used to defeat anti-ship missiles. In the future, a similar system could be put in place to thwart torpedos using the CAV-X rounds.
I reached out to DSG Technology to see if they were planning to offer the CAV-X rounds to non-military groups or sell the bullet on the civilian market. They stated that they only sell to militaries and a private version will not be sold.
I guess my shark hunting will have to wait.
DSG Technology can be found on the web at https://www.dsgtec.com/
About John Crump
John is a NRA instructor and a constitutional activist. He is the former CEO of Veritas Firearms, LLC and is the co-host of The Patriot News Podcast which can be found at www.blogtalkradio.com/patriotnews. John has written extensively on the patriot movement including 3%’ers, Oath Keepers, and Militias. In addition to the Patriot movement, John has written about firearms, interviewed people of all walks of life, and on the Constitution. John lives in Northern Virginia with his wife and sons and is currently working on a book on the history of the patriot movement and can be followed on Twitter at @crumpyss or at www.crumpy.com.