Non-Lethal Rounds Tough to ass Produce.

• Author: Willingham, Stephen
• Position: Ammo manufacturers want even regulations

Industry would like common standards for commercial and military ammo

Growing involvement by U.S. military forces in humanitarian and peacekeeping missions around the world has fueled the demand for non-lethal munitions in recent years.

Manufacturers, however, are struggling to adapt non-lethal ammunition--fired in 12-gauge shotguns--to mass-production techniques, said Eduard L. Lilliott, chief executive officer and vice president of Ordnance Technology Associates (OTA), headquartered in Perry, Fla.

OTA, a subcontractor for Technical Solutions Group, in Charleston, S.C., is one of a handful of manufacturers supplying non lethal munitions to the military services.

The firm makes three different types of non-lethal munitions for the U.S. Marine Corps, Coast Guard and civilian law enforcement agencies. Within the industry, these munitions--bean bag, rubber fin stabilized and peacekeeper--are called kinetic-impact rounds, which means they are intended to stun individuals, not maim or kill them, noted Lilliott, a ballistics chemist who retired from a 25-year career at Olin Corp.-Winchester, of East Alton, Ill.

He gave National Defense a tour of his small plant's operation in rural north Florida.

A beanbag is a small cotton sack, filled with steel pellets, in this case, number-four buckshot. After being stitched shut, the bag is packed into a 12-gauge shotgun shell.

The rubber fin is a light, plastic, bullet shaped projectile with stabilizing fins on the back to promote short-range accuracy.

The peacekeeper round is used for marking individuals who are believed to be leaders or instigators. It is a light, plastic projectile that is filled with a durable, ultraviolet paint. Once an individual has been hit, he or she can be apprehended later, when there isn't a volatile crowd watching.

Even if the paint has been seemingly scrubbed off, suspects can be identified, by scanning them, as much as seven days later, with a black light, Lilliott said. He vouched for the tenacity of the UV paint because he has tried it on himself.

The peacekeeper is the first non-lethal round that OTA made, said Eva C. Jones, chief financial officer and president of the firm. Jones developed the mold design and the manufacturing process for the peacekeeper.

When OTA started in 1995, no established database existed for making non lethal rounds, Jones explained. The firm's first attempts, using paint-ball technology, didn't work well, she noted. Nevertheless, she said, OTA eventually attained success by continued experiments with a wide variety of rubber and plastic-based materials.

One of the biggest hurdles that manufacturers face is...