The Marine Corps wants the defense industry to design a wireless, non-lethal munition capable of stunning individuals out to 100 meters.
The human electro-muscular incapacitation, or HEMI, munition is intended to be a small-caliber, non-lethal round that can be fired from current conventional small arms, according to a September 24 solicitation posted on www.sibr.gov, a government website for the Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program, which is designed to encourage small business to engage in federal research and development.
Currently, all the services field a version of the Taser International X-26 "Taser," a pistol that fires a wire-tethered cartridge out to 25 feet to disrupt the body's electro-muscular system for about five seconds.
The Marine Corps is "seeking innovative technologies to design" a HEMI munition capable of "hitting human targets at an effective range of 100 meters and physically disabling them for at least 30 seconds up to more than three minutes," the solicitation states.
