Leading the good fight against our cyborg overlords this year was ALS defense (Amtech Less-Lethal Systems), with their Skynet anti-drone rounds for 12ga. shotguns and 37mm/40mm launchers. All kidding aside, this is quite a capable antidrone round. It works by spreading apart a bolo than can entangle the rotor blades as it ascends toward the drone. The rounds for the 12ga 3 1/2″ Magnum can ascend 300ft, and achieve a 9 ft diameter, while the 2 3/4″ rounds can achieve a 5ft diameter. Once they reach the apex of their ascent, the parachute down slowly enough to be caught in one’s hand. The rounds are also non-toxic. For drones with shrouded blades, steel shot can be inserted into cavities between the pieces of the round. Perhaps we should do an anti-drone round comparison review in the future, it is becoming a popular category!

Moving on to ALS’s speciality of nonlethal munitions, their new multi-impact round uses a heat-sensitive polymer. Employing the same “net” as their Skynet rounds, the polymer it is made out of is soft in warm/hot temperatures, and becomes harder in cold temperatures. This allows the rounds, for the most part, to impact with appropriate kinetic energy for the environment they are using. For example, the same round that would be “soft” against a person wearing a t-shirt in a warm climate would be hard enough to transmit energy across several layers of heavy clothing in a cold environment. I guess a bare-chested perpetrator in a cold climate would be out of luck, and on the flip side, an overdressed individual in a warm climate might get off easy. But I digress. The rounds are available for the 12ga shotgun and the 37mm/40mm launchers as well, and glow in the dark for recovery.

Moving on to distraction devices, ALS has a few new tricks up their sleeve: A scalable flashbang chain that can be used with their aerial pest control charges as not to be considered the use of explosives (the bird bombs are viewed as the equivalent of a firecracker). Also seen was another re-usable flashbang that used their 12ga. “bore thunder” blanks. It activated using an awesome gyro trigger that ,when triggered, set off a striker that fired the round. Then, one can simply reload the device for future use. If one ever encounters ALS rounds, one would be well-served to give them a try. The aerial pest control round is a personal favorite of mine.

Thanks to ALS for their time and patience in explaining their new devices to me!