The Military’s New Green Ammunition
American Rheinmetall Munitions announced this week that their Mk281 “green ammunition” will start to be introduced at the National Training Center at Fort Irwin in California.
From the press release:
Mk281 does not contain toxic chemicals or energetic materials, which aligns it with the Department of Defense (DoD) and Environmental Protection Agency’s joint mission to solve Unexploded Ordnance (UXO) issues. The Army’s current 40 mm training cartridge, M918, is a 1970’s pyrotechnic design that contains heavy metals in the fuze and potassium perchlorate in the flash/bang payload. It is due to phase out in favor of newer munitions when the U.S. industrial base is ready.
No matter what your stance on war, this is a smart idea, since soldiers go through up to 10 million rounds a year in training. The clean-up costs alone are over $500 million.
The Army is already using the Mk281 at Fort Irwin. The green ammunition is too advanced for the US industrial base, which means the Department of Army is involved in protecting existing ‘arrangements’ until industry catches up. The Department of Defense and Environmental Protection Agency would have cows if they knew PEO Ammunition was involved in protectionism.
[...] announcement of a new ‘Green Ammunition‘ for the military brings up an interesting question. Can war be eco-friendly? I find it [...]
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