Dirty Harry round

Dirty Harry is the name given to the special round chambered 5.56x45mm. The rounds are designed by BAE Systems and were safety and performance tested by QinetiQ to supplement the existing 5.56 standard NATO ammunition issued to British Forces.

Background
The necessity to use a more powerful round in place of regular 5.56mm NATO round was felt due to the unsatisfactory performance of it in medium range engagements.

The British soldiers found their SA80 rifles ineffective at ranges exceeding 400 yard because of insufficient Kinetic energy possessed by the round. Whereas the Taliban were able to effectively engage the British at ranges of 600 yard by using 7.62x39mm ammunition from their AK series rifles.

This resulted in the Ministry of Defence (MoD) requesting the development of a special round to be used from the existing SA80 rifles resulting in Dirty Harry.

Status
The ammunition is currently undergoing testing in the Future Dismounted Close Combat research program. At a later point an initial order of about a million rounds is expected to be put up by the MoD.