Category: Soldiering

The U.S. Military’s Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane), has designed and developed the Drone Killer Cartridge (DKC). The cost-effective family of ammunition is designed to increase a warfighter’s probability of a hit and kill against drone threats.

DKC is designed for use in rifles, automatic rifles and machine guns, but it disperses a cluster of projectiles upon firing with an effective range far greater than a conventional shotgun’s capabilities.

The effect increases probability hits and kills against Unmanned Aerial System (UAS) threats in a way that also minimizes risk of collateral damage from projectiles that don’t impact the target.

The DKC family of loads includes both pelletized and segmented designs. The segmented version includes a one-piece projectile that mechanically self-separates into discrete, spin-stabilized sub-projectiles prior to muzzle exit. Pelletized DKC includes a projectile assembly containing a stack of high-density, spherical buckshot-sized pellets mechanically disbursed at muzzle exit.

“We’re enabling extended range, shotgun-style effects through automatic rifles and machine guns with nothing more than an ammunition change,” said Brian Hoffman, man-portable weapons chief engineer at NSWC Crane. During a recent demonstration at Camp Atterbury in Edinburgh, Ind., DKC achieved a 92 percent success rate against drones.

Colonel Andrew Konicki, program manager of Ground Based Air Defense for Program Executive Officer Land Systems, said the Marine Corps plans to broadly implement the cartridges at the operator level.

“The Drone Killer Cartridge represents a pivotal shift in countering the pervasive threat of enemy drones,” Col. Konicki said. “This type of ammunition provides an immediate and significant improvement to our kinetic kill capabilities by using standard-issued weapons that are already in the hands of Marines.

The collaborative work between NSWC Crane and the Marine Corps has positive impacts across the ecosystem of Homeland Defense as well as self-protection for our forward deployed troops in harm’s way. With DKC, we are adding capability well beyond conventional options, while also bending the cost curve for neutralizing drone threats, particularly to the individual Marine.”

Unmanned systems are reshaping military tactics, challenging established operations and creating life-threatening threats for warfighters. To counter the critical threat, the Department is aiming to improve overall defense capabilities.

“By design, DKC provides broader terminal coverage on and around the intended target, which increases effectiveness against stationary and moving drones by helping offset imperfect aim,” said Hoffman. “There’s a good reason why bird hunters use shotguns. We’ve applied a similar philosophy to killing drones while amplifying overall performance. DKC sub-projectiles exit the barrel at velocities typical of centerfire rifle ammunition. Those velocities, and associated energies, far exceed shotgun capabilities and serve to extend effective range while offering more devastating effects on target.”

DKC was developed from internal NSWC Crane Naval Innovative Science and Engineering (NISE) funding and investments from the Department of Homeland Security and Marine Corps. The load involves only an ammunition change, eliminating new-weapon qualification requirements and accelerates initial fielding. It also removes any requirement that warfighters carry an additional weapon dedicated to countering drones.

“When you compare the cost it takes to kill a drone using DKC versus some other solutions that are being employed, it’s a night-and-day difference,” said Hoffman. “The projectiles used in segmented DKC and pelletized DKC are both inert, meaning there is no energetic material in the projectile itself. The separation mechanisms are purely mechanical, and the cartridge case, primer, and propellant are common to other ammunition types already in production. These attributes combine to help keep it elegantly simple yet effective while ensuring low-cost producibility.”