The vortex ring gun is an experimental non-lethal weapon for crowd control that uses high-energy vortex rings of gas to knock down people or spray them with marking ink or other chemicals.
The concept was explored by the US Army starting in 1998, and by some commercial firms. Knockdown of distant individuals currently seems unlikely even if the rings are launched at theoretical maximum speed.[1] As for the delivery of chemicals, leakage during flight is still a problem.[citation needed]
Weapons based on similar principles but different designs and purposes have been described before, typically using acetylene-air or hydrogen–oxygen explosions to create and propel the vortices.[2]
- ^ Video of knock down tests on YouTube
- ^ "Faulker Feuersturm" by Rob Arndt: "Dr. Zippermeyer ... designed and built a series of highly unorthodox anti-aircraft weapons ... Dr. Zippermeyer constructed both a huge Wirbelwind Kanone (Whirlwind Cannon) and Turbulenz Kanone (Vortex Cannon). ... used a detonation of hydrogen and oxygen ..."