--- title: "The Indian Army made a grenade from ghost peppers" date: "2020-04-29" modified: "2020-10-30" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-tactical/indian-pepper-grenade/" categories: - "Military News" - "Tactical" - "Weapons" --- # The Indian Army made a grenade from ghost peppers ![]() Look out, Pakistan, the Indian Army just weaponized one of the world's hottest peppers. If it can stop a charging elephant, it can likely make militants think twice about starting trouble in Kashmir. The newest biological weapon on the market is a homegrown substance for India: Ghost Peppers. --- The Indian Army is developing a flashbang-style grenade that harnesses the spicy power of the Bhut Jolokia pepper, one of the world's hottest peppers. The pepper, used by farmers mostly to keep elephants away, was one of the world's hottest peppers until 2007, when a race began to cultivate the world's new hottest pepper. The current champion is the Carolina Reaper. The Ghost Pepper is now number seven on the list, but still packs a mean punch, as anyone unfortunate enough to have tasted it knows. To give some kind of reference to how spicy it really is, the habanero pepper has a Scoville rating of 350,000 units. The Bhut Jolokia has a Scoville rating of more than 1,000,000 units. Luckily, the burn of all of these peppers could only be felt if you were unfortunate enough to touch it. Until now. ![]() If you thought this hurt. Just you wait. The new weapon is pretty much a standard stun grenade with a spicy little addition. Inside are hundreds of ground-up Bhut Jolokia seeds. Once the flashbang goes off, the nonlethal grenade showers the area with baby powder-fine Ghost Pepper dust. Test subjects who were subjected to the Ghost Pepper grenade were blinded for hours by the powder. Some were left with problems breathing. "The chili grenade is a non-toxic weapon and when used would force a terrorist to come out of his hideout," says R.B. Srivastava of India's Defense Research and Development Organisation. "The effect is so pungent that it would literally choke them." It's like a regular flashbang, but horrifyingly painful and debilitating. ![]() Guys, I think I'm just gonna wait for the Flamin' Hot Cheetos grenade. India's new weapon isn't designed to kill or be used in combat. The Indian government wants to use the Ghost Pepper Grenade as a crowd control device and for use during terrorist incidents. The powder in the grenades is also being considered as a self-defense measure for Indian women to carry on the streets and as an elephant deterrent for Indian Army installations. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()