Army’s ‘PepperBall’ weapon fires projectiles that burst into ‘debilitating cloud’

The U.S. Army will soon have a new weapon in its arsenal for crowd control: PepperBall’s Variable Kinetic System (VKS) launcher.

Paintball-like projectiles that burst into a “debilitating cloud” will soon rain down on aggressors due to a $650,000 contract awarded to PepperBall — the largest supplier of non-lethal PAVA-based launchers.

The company burnished its reputation by working with the Federal Bureau of Prisons, the United States Border Patrol and police departments across the country.

“In our line of work, when we come into a housing unit with something like this, this is another deterrent that can give us an opportunity to gain control, gain compliance with an individual without having to go to a whole lot of force actually being used,” a prison warden says in a demonstration video on PepperBall’s Facebook page.

The weapon “has the same controls and ergonomics of the M4/M16 weapons system, so muscle memory training is the same for soldiers who carry those weapons,” Army Times noted Saturday.

Each VKS launcher also features a dual feed system that allows shooters to alternate between “hopper mode” and “magazine mode.”

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“The hopper holds up to 180 rounds and has the same design as a common paintball gun, with a large basin holding the projectiles. The magazine can hold 10 to 15 rounds for more compact carry,” the newspaper added.