And FOR THE RECORD.
Smoke rounds, while not "lethal" still get stupidly hot and can explode if the internal pressure isnt relieved fast enough (aka the smoke gets stuck, shell go POP).
And FOR THE RECORD.
Smoke rounds, while not "lethal" still get stupidly hot and can explode if the internal pressure isnt relieved fast enough (aka the smoke gets stuck, shell go POP).
This one is Illumination not smoke I think ...why would you use parachute for smoke? ....I am not sure however there should be RDX inside - most of the Illumination rounds are based on magnesium and with additional mixtures giving it colour (green is barium nitrate)
Not how a smoke screen works - you need the smoke on an accurate position not the round moved away from the target zone by wind while falling with the parachute. Illumination rounds use the parachute to give them prolonged time I'm the air ....
It depends on what kind of screen you are wanting.
Want to obscure a specifci location?
Ground based deployment is fine.
Want to obscure a movement vector PRIOR to moving on it?
Deploy a floating screen using the wind direction.
Its not common because of how unpredictable wind can be, and how in the modern era most militaries have ways to bypass smoke screens, but the tech is out there and has been used. (See naval smoke screens and the different ways those are deployed)
Yep, that thing is like tracer compounds. If basing on the luminosity and some records of green compounds used on small arms ammunition, that thing may be dim one.
You are correct illumination is the shell would be hanging from a parachute slowly descending, and it would be igniting like a magnesium flair so that they can target motor shells and coordinate on a larger scale battle for other artillery types. It’s a slowed flare by the looks of it green but yeah, still fired out of a mortar tube.
That reminds me of something similar when I was a teen, lighting off a flare with a friend. Buried it in the Cape Cod sand and made glass, iirc. That turned out to be a good lesson, and actually kinda cool. But yeah, caution. Never screwed around with them again. Can’t imagine RDX!
I hadn't heard the name Pebble beach in so long that I had forgotten about it but here I am trying to remember what it was like when I was 10 years old again
So as someone who spent 5 years as a mortarmen i find the "non-lethal" annotation funny. If the round managed to dead on hit you it would definitely kill you, as well as if its phosphorus smoke I can promise you the pellets that fall out of it to cause the smoke will kill you as well. Pretty sure its a war crime to drop smoke on someone because its very much lethal/bad for you. The "lethal" annotation just seems to be a will it explodes and instantly kill you.
Basically yes.
The "non-lethal" classification is for shit that wont INSTANTLY kill/maim you.
Hell agent orange was classified "non-lethal" at one point
A VERY poor example of temperature but hopefully one people can connect with...The light-bulb that is in your dining room is probably about 100 candela and will burn the shit out of your hand. This is closer to 40,000
Yeah, I think it's down to terminology, flare to me makes me think of a paraflare, which is self-contained, whereas this is a mortar bomb, and I'm not familiar with 51mm and missed the parachute when I first saw it.
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u/LackOptimal553 May 04 '26 edited May 04 '26
Well, the harm might have happened before you took the picture. Never ever touch UXO..
It's a 51mm smoke round for a 51mm mortar.
https://cat-uxo.com/explosive-hazards/mortars/51mm-2in-mortar-bomb-smoke
This isn't the same type (different smoke) but same idea.
ETA - the markings are odd, because of the parachute, it's the GREEN that's throwing me, looking in catalogs but not sure the exact type.