The U.S. Office of Naval Research reported it has developed a new explosive material technology capable of exploding with five times the energy of current missiles. This material, dubbed High-Density Reactive Materials, or HDRM, combines metals and polymers which react only on target impact, creating a chemical explosion. The HDRMs replace the usual inert casing surrounding the explosives of the missile, and now can combine and explode with the explosives inside only on impact. Since traditional missiles only dissipate the kinetic energy created by launch, the added chemical energy released by the reaction of the HDRMs greatly accentuates the effects of the missile. Clifford Bedford, a naval researcher involved in the development of the new material technology, told the BBC that HDRMs could cause fewer innocent bystander casualties. Bedford sees the immediate applications of the technology as an "anti-missile missile" which could be aimed at incoming missiles and would reduce the number of firings because of HDRMs' greater explosive capabilities.
-compiled by Eric Olson
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