Flechette A flechette is a pointed steel projectile , with a vaned tail for stable flight . The name comes from French , " little arrow " or " dart " , and sometimes retains the acute accent in English : " fléchette " . Small arms ammunition . Small arms makers are attracted by the exterior ballistic performance and armor - piercing potential of flechettes . A number of attempts have been made to field flechette - firing small arms . Work at Johns Hopkins University in the 1950s led to the development of the Direct Injection Antipersonnel Chemical Biological Agent ( DIACBA ) , where flechettes were grooved , hollow pointed , or otherwise milled to retain a quantity of chemical biological warfare agent to deliver through a ballistic wound . The initial work was with VX , which had to be thickened to deliver a reliable dose . Eventually this was replaced by a particulate carbamate . The US Biological Program also had a microflechette to deliver either botulinum toxin A or saxitoxin , the M1 Biodart , which resembled a 7 . 62 mm rifle cartridge . Several underwater firearm s using flechettes were experimented with . During the Vietnam War the United States employed 12 gauge combat shotgun s that were used with flechette loads that consisted of around 20 flechettes per shell . The USSR / Russian federation had / has the AO - 27 rifle as well as APS amphibious rifle , and other countries have their own flechette rounds . A number of prototype flechette - firing weapons were developed as part of the long - running Special Purpose Individual Weapon ( SPIW ) project . Some of these showed up as entries in the Advanced Combat Rifle project as well . A variation of the flechette addressing its difficulties is the SCMITR , developed as part of the Close Assault Weapon System , or CAWS , project . Selective - fire shotguns were used to fire fleshettes designed to retain the exterior ballistics and penetration of the standard flechette , but increase wounding capacity through a wider wound path . Bulk and artillery use . Smaller flechettes were used in special artillery shells called " beehive " rounds ( so named for the very distinctive whistling buzz made by thousands of flechettes flying downrange at supersonic speeds ) and intended for use against troops in the open – a ballistic shell packed with flechettes was fired and set off by a mechanical time fuze , scattering flechettes in an expanding cone . They were used in the Vietnam War by 105 mm howitzer batteries and tanks ( 90mm guns ) to defend themselves against massed infantry attacks . There was also a flechette round for the 106 mm recoilless rifle , which was sometimes employed by American infantry . Heavier artillery , including 155 mm howitzers , 8 - inch howitzers , and 175 mm guns , did not have a flechette round and instead used either a standard HE round with a time fuze set to 0 . 0 seconds ( resulting in detonation as soon as the round cleared the muzzle , known as Killer Junior ) or a double powder charge with no projectile , which inflicted casualties by the muzzle blast alone . The 70mm Hydra 70 rocket currently in service with the US Armed forces can be fitted with an anti - personnel ( APERS ) warhead containing 96 flechettes . They are carried by attack helicopters such as the AH - 64 Apache and the AH - 1 Cobra . The Israel Defense Forces have used 105 and 120 mm flechettes during the occupation of southern Lebanon , and later in the conflict in Gaza Strip . the Israel Defense Forces had drawn criticism for their use of tank - fired flechettes in urban areas . In 2008 , a flechette round from an Israeli tank fired at Reuters cameraman Fadel Shana ' a killed him along with two adjacent civilians . During the latest Russia – Georgia war , both countries claimed that the other was using flechette shells against urban targets , resulting in civilian casualties . While those claims are still to be investigated , it is known that several civilians ( including at least one news reporter ) were injured by flechette - type ammunition .