Beehive anti-personnel round

This article is about Beehive anti-personnel ammunition. For other uses, see Beehive (disambiguation).

Beehive was a Vietnam war era anti-personnel round packed with metal flechettes fired from an artillery gun most popularly deployed during that conflict.

"Beehive" is named for the 'buzzing' sound its darts made when flying through the air. The first example was the M546 anti-personnel tracer (APERS-T), first fired in combat in 1966[1] and thereafter used extensively in the Vietnam War. Intended for direct fire against enemy troops, the M546 was direct fired from a near horizontally leveled 105 mm howitzer[2] and ejected 8000 flechettes during flight by a mechanical time fuze.

Beehive rounds were also created for recoilless anti-tank weapons including 90 mm, 106 mm, Ontoses[3] and M48 tanks.

Subsequently it was reported that the USSR had developed similar rounds for 122 mm and 152 mm artillery for use in indirect fire.

Beehive rounds became less popular in the United States following Vietnam, with low-angle air burst techniques such as Killer Junior supplanting the use of beehive.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Major General David Ewing Ott (1975), Field Artillery, 1954-1973, Washington D.C.: Department of the Army, p. 61
  2. ↑ M546 APERS-T 105-mm
  3. ↑ ONTOS, the world's biggest shot gun