The cutting-edge ammunition has been developed by Virginia weapons firm DSG Technologies. The .50 caliber CAV-X bullets can travel 60 metres underwater, and can go through 2 centimetres of steel fired from 17 meters away. This means that they could be used by helicopter gunners to blast submarines, or could be used by divers to sink boats from below.
The bullets are apparently tipped with tungsten, which creates an air bubble to reduce drag.
This is needed as normal rounds slow down in water as it is eight times denser than air, making most weapons unusable in the sea.
The bullets are being developed to be compatible with existing weapons.
That would enable the ammunition to be deployed in and out of the water.
In a statement DSG Technologies said: “Depending on the weapon and the used loading variant, this ammunition is suitable for use in partial or fully submerged weapons, regardless of if the target is in water or on the surface.”
Odd Leonhardsen, DSG Tech’s chief science officer told Business Insider: “The reason (the bullet) does not stop in the same way as conventional ammunition does, is because the CAV-X projectile is perfectly balanced through its own rotation, and the shape helps form the perfect cavitation body around the projectile.
“The only part of the projectile that will be in contact with the water to create drag/ friction is the tip.”
He added that the company was selling the bullets to other countries, stressing that these were either NATO members or were on friendly term with the military alliance.
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Owen claimed he was directly behind the ‘point man’ going up the stairs.
He writes that bin Laden ducked back into his bedroom and the SEALs followed, only to find the terrorist crumpled on the floor in a pool of blood with a hole visible on the right side of his head and two women wailing over his body.
Owen recounted how he and the other SEALs trained their guns’ laser sites on bin Laden’s still-twitching body, shooting him several times until he lay motionless.
Owen wrote: “He hadn’t even prepared a defense.
“He had no intention of fighting. He asked his followers for decades to wear suicide vests or fly planes into buildings, but didn’t even pick up his weapon.
“In all of my deployments, we routinely saw this phenomenon.
“The higher up the food chain the targeted individual was, the bigger a p**** he was.”
In another possibly uncomfortable revelation for U.S. officials who say bin Laden’s body was treated with dignity before being given a full Muslim burial at sea, the author reveals that in the cramped helicopter flight out of the compound, one of the SEALs called “Walt” was sitting on bin Laden’s chest as the body lay at the author’s feet in the middle of the cabin.
Owen also writes disparagingly that none of the SEALs were fans of President Barack Obama and knew that his administration would take credit for ordering the May 2011 raid. One of the SEALs said after the mission that they had just gotten Obama re-elected by carrying out the raid.