Evaluating lethality of less lethal ammunition

ess-lethality is dependent on the inherent nature of the weapon, the way it is used and the vulnerability of the

opponent. In principle, less lethal ammunition allow military and police forces to react to violence and non-compliance
situations more adequately with less probability of escalations.
With respect to kinetic energy weaponsthree areas need to be considered. These include physics, biomechanics
and medicine. The latter is important in order to determine the severity of possible injuries.
With respect to kinetic energy weapons and evaluating the effect of less lethal ammunition, such as blunt impact
projectiles and rubber bullets, three areas need to be considered. These
include physics,biomechanics and medicine. The latter is important in order to determine the severity of possible
injuries.

What is less lethal based on?

Studies and evaluations of (possible) injury are based on the physical parameters of:
1.

(1) kinetic energy

2.

(2) momentum, and

3.

(3) kinetic energy mass which is the ratio of kinetic energy and the effective impact area represented by the
formula:

The biomechanical response of the body has three components:

1.

(a) inertial resistance by acceleration of body masses,

2.

(b) elastic resistance by compression of body structures and tissues, and

3.

(c) viscous resistance by tissue properties. Skin and body simulants are commonly used to evaluate
biomechanical and medical effects. Complex statistical injury risk assessment formulas have been developed to
formulate and assess those probabilities.

Guidelines for less lethal ammunition

Based on using the above criteria and methods, attempts have been made to create guidelines for less-lethal
weapons. One such guideline was formulated by a Lorenzo & Lampert study How to Quantify Effects of Non-lethal
Weapons[1], suggesting kinetic energy should be higher than 6 J/cm2 to create pain sufficient to enforce compliance.
They also suggest that kinetic energy should be below 10 J/cm2 (kinetic energy mass) in order to avoid skin
penetration. It is also inferred that irreversible eye damage can occur at kinetic energy levels of 2.5 J/cm2 or greater.
These are important benchmarks in developing a weapons rules of use such as safe range distances and specific
targeting of bodily areas.
There are those that suggest that the Lorenzo & Lampert[2] study is over compensating for safety and that anything
below 20 J/cm2 is acceptable. Either way these are some basic guidelines that enable police and military forces to
develop use cases for the application of less-lethal ammunition.

[1, 2]

P. Drapela, R. Lorenzo, S. Lampert. How to quantify effects of non-lethal weapons, Proceedings 24thInternational

Symposium on Ballistics, New Orleans, LA, 2008, pp. 12841288.