So, Russian police are reluctant to use “non-lethal” ammunition. In 2009, the country’s Ministry of Interior conducted an open competitive tender for a pneumatic non-lethal crowd control system. The winning company produced a gun that uses 300-atmosphere pressurized air to throw plastic birdies that can stop even a physically vigorous rioter right on the spot. Gone are the times when police had to hide behind riot shields as enraged street fighters showered them with rocks and pieces of tarmac. Because a pneumatic shuttlecock machine-gun easily tames anybody’s ardor.
The pneumatic machine gun uses a 22-millimeter-diameter, 4.8-gram shuttlecock as its primary weapon. It weighs the same as a bullet but doesn’t fly as fast, and has a much wider hitting surface. The projectile can be loaded with paint to mark malicious troublemakers or simply make it extra heavy, by up to 30 grams more, for additional stopping power. A standard shot with a basic plastic birdie could be compared to a “flick of father’s belt”, the gun’s creators say, while an extra heavy hit strikes like a horse’s kick.
YouTube link.
The “Birdiethrower” can make one sniper shot per second at 50-metre accuracy range. The computer system that operates the gun calculates its power in accordance with the distance to the target: if the person gets closer – the computer downgrades the gun’s power so as not to cripple him or her. Operating the gun may seem like a videogame, but the operator will bear responsibility for every shot he makes: the system makes a video record of everything it does. The pneumatic machine-gun is assembled on a standard Tiger armoured vehicle and is operated by one man plus the driver of the vehicle.
