"The Army set out to develop lead-free bullets to protect the environment. The finished product achieved that goal -- and produced the most lethal rifle round to date.

For the past five years, U.S. soldiers in Iraq and Afghanistan have been firing eco-friendly rifle bullets with greater ability to pierce protective shields and cause more bodily harm than the lead bullets they replaced.

'What started as a program to be more environmentally friendly became a significant upgrade in military small arms capability,' Col. Glenn Dean, who helped develop the green bullet, wrote in his e-book on the experience, 'In Search of Lethality.'"

Ariel Wittenberg reports for Greenwire June 15, 2015. [2]