"green" bullet: keep on killing AND spare the environment

[pynchonoid]

Proving once again that "military intelligence" is an
oxymoron:  keep killing people with bullets, but
reduce their negative impact on the environment:

Getting the lead out: Alliant's 'green' bullet
[by] Dee DePass, Star Tribune

[...] at the request of the U.S. military, Alliant's
ATK ammunition division is embarked on the somewhat
oxymoronic quest to design a new "green" bullet that
is every bit as lethal to people but doesn't pose the
same threat to the environment as lead-based ones. If
Alliant is successful, the U.S. military hopes to
eliminate lead from most of its bullets over the next
decade.

[... ...] 

Profit margins are tighter on non-lead bullets, but if
Alliant can settle on a winning design, the company --
already the largest bullet manufacturer in the world,
producing 3.4 billion rounds a year -- would cement an
advantage for U.S. military contracts over competitors
such as Remington and Winchester.

[...] "It's just harder to make good bullets without
lead," DeYoung said. "We are trying to replicate the
good performance of lead, but what we have is not as
good. We get 'acceptable' performance from lead-free
products but it's harder to make and you do give up
some of the characteristics. If lead were not toxic,
we would not be having this conversation. It's the
best."

[...and on that "No War profits in this economy, no
sir! tip...] 

"Just this past quarter [Alliant] raised their [total]
annual bookings announcement for the year from $1.7
billion to $2 billion in orders for this year. I think
clearly that is being led by the ammo side of the
business and the precision weapons side," Arment said.

The ATK Ammunition unit saw sales go from $600 million
last year to about $620 million in May, with $700
million soon to follow.

"The green ammunition portion of this is going to
continue to be a strategic element that we are
pursuing," DeYoung said.

<http://www.startribune.com/stories/535/4075320.html>



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