Bruce Lund, CEO of Lund & Co. Inventions, cemented his company's reputation as the toy inventor that produced hit products, including Honey: My Baby Pony and TMX Elmo. But through a curious chain of events, his company's latest product is a nonlethal weapon for the military nicknamed the Big Hurt.

Lund's road to weaponeer started as the company, which invents products for large toy sellers, was researching new power sources for toys. Lund recalled seventh-grade science demonstrations in which an electric current is passed through water, producing oxygen and hydrogen gas. Mix the two together, add a spark and boom! The company used the same concept to create a successful line of hydrogen-powered rockets that electrolyze water and then ignite it, the biggest innovation in toy-rocket power for decades. NASA even awarded Lund a prize for developing the product.

Lund's enthusiasm for hydrogen combustion power led him to look at all sorts of unlikely applications, including a hydrogen-powered lawnmower and even power tools. But Lund made little progress with other combustion applications—until a friend alerted him to a Pentagon Small Business Innovation Research request for technology to power a nonlethal weapon. The problem with existing weapons firing rubber bullets, beanbags and other crowd-control rounds is their velocity. Anything that is effective at 50 yards may be lethal at 5 yards; anything that is safe at 5 yards won't be fast enough to be effective at 50. Lund's solution is a weapon that automatically measures the range to the target and varies the muzzle velocity accordingly.

The application was an ideal fit for Lund's combustion technology, which can measure out the appropriate amount of gas for each shot. Hydrogen is not a standard military fuel, so Lund's Variable Velocity Weapon System (VVWS) uses cans of methylacetylene propadiene gas, the kind that fuels blowtorches and nail guns, sold at hardware stores. "You might view the VVWS as a repurposed nail gun," Lund says.

The weapon's effectiveness has been tested on blocks of gelatin that simulate human flesh; the projectiles hit with considerable force, but do not penetrate. The weapon is geared to meet the military requirement for an impact energy of 30 joules. This is similar to existing nonlethal weapons; paintball guns are limited to 12 joules. Lund says they have not yet carried out human tests but he suggests it will produce the pain of a severe wasp sting.

The muzzle velocity is normally set automatically, but at the military's request it has a manual override, so the shooter can dial it up to maximum power and fire lethal shots. Lund sees the gun as a lifesaver, providing a less lethal option when circumstances demand. "At the moment, a soldier has to choose between carrying a nonlethal and a lethal weapon—and he's always going to choose the lethal one," Lund says. "This way he can carry one weapon and still have a nonlethal option."

Having successfully demonstrated the prototype, Lund's next challenge will be to make it more robust ("Technology Readiness Level 7" in military parlance) and acquire a commercial partner for production. To sell the weapon, Lund's staff must prove that his system works better than what the Pentagon currently uses, the FN303 less lethal launcher. Sometimes described as a "paintball gun on steroids," the FN303 has been used by the military at detention centers in Iraq, but troops criticize it for being too flimsy. The weapon is refilled from heavy compressed-air tanks, which need to be recharged with a large, expensive compressor.

The VVWS can fire the same ammunition as the FN303 but is designed to be effective at 100 yards—twice the FN303's range—and needs no compressor. The VVWS is also likely to be improved with a rifled barrel for better accuracy at longer ranges, and some new ammunition. Lund won't say how the ammunition is being enhanced (the current version is frangible and breaks up on impact). Similar systems use a round that resembles Silly Putty and flattens on impact.

There is plenty of interest in future developments of the combustion technology. Lund is talking to the law enforcement community about a handgun version that will provide the sort of nonlethal stopping power currently available only from shotguns. The Department of Homeland Security officials have been talking about a combustion-powered 40-mm grenade launcher to launch sensors that can detect toxic gas or place wireless listening devices. Lund has even been looking into making gas-fired mortars. An adapted VVWS might even have sports applications for skeet or trap shooting, and could be considered a green technology since it needs no cartridge cases and uses no powder.

Lund says his team "learned a lot on this project" but adds that weaponeering is unlikely to lure him away from his true vocation. He talks enthusiastically about using the new gas-control technology in future toys, and the potential that electronics bring to traditional mechanical playthings. "Nothing is more fun than making toys," Lund says.

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