Beehive anti-personnel round

Beehive was a Vietnam war era anti-personnel round packed with metal flechettes fired from an artillery gun most popularly deployed during that conflict.

The first round actually termed "beehive" (for the 'buzzing' sound its darts made when flying through the air) was the M546 anti-personnel tracer (APERS-T), first fired in combat in 1966 and thereafter used extensively in the Vietnam War. Intended for direct fire against enemy troops, the M546 was direct fired from a near horizontally leveled 105 mm howitzer and ejected 8000 flechettes during flight by a mechanical time fuze.

Beehive rounds were also created for recoilless anti-tank weapons including 90 mm, 106 mm, Ontoses and M48 tanks.

Subsequently it was reported that the USSR had developed similar rounds for 122 mm and 152 mm artillery for use in indirect fire.

Beehive rounds became less popular in the United States following Vietnam, with low-angle air burst techniques such as Killer Junior supplanting the use of beehive.