Back in 2008, the Pentagon revealed documents that show tests of rocket balls (or “kinetic fireball incendiaries”) in underground bunkers. Today, they’re being tested by the Air Force as a weapon system called HAMMER, or Heated And Mobile Munitions Employing Rockets.
The concept includes hundreds of these 5.5 lb. fireballs delivered by a 2,000 lb. in a bunker-busting bomb capable of punching through six feet of reinforced concrete. Once ignited, the balls then propel themselves in random directions at high speed while bouncing off hard surfaces and crashing through doors and other soft materials -- i.e., evil people.
The balls are made of rubberized rocket fuel, and the real kicker comes from a single hole that their emits a vaporizing exhaust reaching heats over 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, creating the most literal Hell on Earth you can imagine.
But what makes the HAMMER system so special is the fact that the balls aren’t explosive, meaning they don’t overpressure the bunkers and risk spreading dangerous chemical or biological agents.
As of August 2015, General Dynamics was testing the three basic subsystems of the weapon -- ejection, ignition and dispersal of the fireballs.
“The full HAMMER system has not been tested or demonstrated,” a spokeswoman for the Air Force’s Armaments Directorate told Flightglobal. “The purpose of the program is to demonstrate the viability of this concept.”
Soon enough, the term “raining hell down upon your enemies” could be given a whole new meaning.