This new system sounds really bad ass if it actually does what the DOD says it will.

[url=http://www.washtimes.com/upi-breaking/12052002-105108-1155r
.htm]Link to actual Washington Times article[/url]

WASHINGTON, May 12 (UPI) -- A new ballistic technology that
can fire burst rates in excess of one million rounds per
minute from a 36-barrel weapon was one of the reasons
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld canceled the $11 billion
Crusader artillery system.

The technology is known as "Metal Storm," which is also the
name of the Australian research and development company that
owns it.

The fastest weapons today are mechanical Gatling gun styles
that can fire at the rate of some 6,000 rounds per minute.
Infantry rifles average 600 rounds, which is the firing rate
for a magazine of 15 to 30 rounds.

Admiral Bill Owens, a retired former deputy chairman of the
Joint Chiefs of Staff and author of "Lifting the Fog of
War," a controversial book about defense modernization, is
the chairman of the board of Metal Storm Ltd. With
multimillion-dollar contracts, Metal Storm works closely
with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and
the Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization.
Chuck Vehlow, a former general manager of the Boeing
helicopter division, is the company's new chief corporate
officer. Vehlow has negotiated big-ticket procurement
contracts and technology licensing agreements with the
Pentagon.

Most of Metal Storm's work is top secret. Already under
development is an "area denial weapons system," including an
unmanned aerial combat vehicle that will carry twelve 40-mm
mortar boxes comprising a total of 1,200 tubes, and armed
with 7,200 grenades. The system's unprecedented firing
capabilities can lay down a continuous 50-meter-wide carpet
of grenades for about two miles, firing all its grenades
simultaneously with a five-yard separation on impact.

Another gun under development for a small combat aerial
vehicle is multi-barreled and can fire 270 rounds onto a
target in just .001 seconds without stress on the air frame
or any drop in air speed.

The company's advanced individual combat weapon program is
destined to replace small arms throughout the western
alliance, said Mike O'Dwyer, company chief executive
officer. The prototypes now being developed have a dual
barrel capability to fire both 20-mm and 40-mm bursting
munitions and standard 5.56-mm NATO ammunition.

The weapon will also fire "less-than-lethal" projectiles for
riot control. The future infantry weapons hardware
replacement program for Australia's small defense forces
alone is estimated to be worth $700 million.

Metal Storm's submachine gun will be capable of firing
multiple barrel rapid-fire bursts at 45,000 rounds per
minute per barrel. The technology is 100 percent electronic.
Its electronically variable rate of fire has been confirmed
to one million rounds per minute.

The technology allows barrels to be grouped in any
configuration required for a particular application because
it has no moving parts, no separate magazine, no ammunition
feed or ejection system. The only moving parts in this
revolutionary ballistic technology are the bullets or other
projectiles.

Next to "Metal Storm's" firepower, said a senior Pentagon
acquisition official, the lumbering, 45-ton Crusader
artillery tube would be obsolete equipment.

At the core of the new technology is a projectile design
that allows multiple high-pressure ammo to be stacked
in-line in a barrel, then electronically fired in sequence.
In turn, multiple barrels can be grouped together to form
compact weapons systems of unprecedented conventional
firepower. These new weapons will have all-electronic access
control systems to ensure that only authorized personnel use
them. The dual function will also allow on-board selection
at the press of a button between a non-lethal response
capability and the kind of lethality that will deny an area
to the enemy without having to use anti-personnel landmines.

Metal Storm also makes the Vle, a handgun with a 64-digit
electronic keying system that conceals a transponder. An
electronic message confirms when the weapon is set to fire
and which fire setting is selected.

U.S. defense sources said the Metal Storm technological
breakthrough will produce a new generation of weapons that
will "accelerate out-of-atmosphere ballistic missile
interdiction as well as biological and chemical cloud
neutralization."

The technology is not just used for firing projectiles. It
is an electronically controlled delivery system that has
potential applications in fire fighting, fireworks displays,
aerial advertising in the night sky, precision chemical
distribution in agriculture, and seismic surveying for
minerals and oil.




-----------------------------------------------------------


Copyright (c) 2002 News World Communications, Inc. All
rights reserved.

There's one of these for sale at my local gun store but there arent any ankle holsters for it...so I didnt buy it.

I'm very picky.

Oh good.  That will make the MMM crowd "feel" safer.

I remember reading about that about a year and a half ago...  

Here is the origional article...

[url]http://www.forbes.com/global/2000/1113/0323032a.html[/url]

"A new ballistic technology that can fire burst rates in excess of one million rounds per minute from a 36-barrel weapon..."

[b]Yeah, BOG's already got one.[/b]


"an "area denial weapons system," including an unmanned aerial combat vehicle that will carry twelve 40-mm mortar boxes comprising a total of 1,200 tubes, and armed with 7,200 grenades. The system's unprecedented firing capabilities can lay down a continuous 50-meter-wide carpet of grenades for about two miles, firing all its grenades simultaneously with a five-yard separation on impact."

[b]Ya' know BOG knows a guy who has a friend who's already training him on the use of this?[/b]


"a small combat aerial vehicle is multi-barreled and can fire 270 rounds onto a target in just .001 seconds"

[b]BOG just submitted the forms to acquire this too... it's been approved already, he's just waiting on the paperwork in the mail.[/b]


"submachine gun will be capable of firing multiple barrel rapid-fire bursts at 45,000 rounds per minute per barrel."

[b]BOG has a friend in California who knows an Australian Special Forces officer who's going to smuggle one of these into the country for him... if the FBI doesn't catch him first.[/b]

We got to see the test bed for one of those things on my ship... They're looking to replace the Navy's Phalanx CIWS systems with the 'wall of metal' technology. It's supposed to be a bazillion times more effective than the current ship defensive weapon.

So what do you call a 36 barrelled M-16?

Ultra-Heavy Weight barrel M-16?

Factory or depot level reloads?  Ouch.



Yep, bury the nail in that coffin.  I'm sure "Metal Storm" will have it's program killed as well.  It's not like our troops need fire support, eh?



Sounds kind of heavy.



So much for the Revolution.  We'll be locked out of any of the good toys.

 

Yep, that will kill the ability to fight against your local authorized friendly gov't agents.

If "Metal Storm" can't hurl a high explosive shell at a target 20 kilometers away, how is it going to replace a howitzer?

And here I thought SW debuted some new wonder weapon.

Once again the Media is makin shit up.  They have no fricken clue what they are talking about.

Ben



[url]http://www.metalstorm.com/[/url]

how about some decent body armor instead.

If you think this SOUNDS cool, goto [url]www.metalstorm.com[/url] and check out the videos of this technology in action. [u]Very[/u] cool. If this technology hold up to even half of its potential, its going to make the battlefield hell for anybody facing it.

I want one of those VLe's. To bad they probably won't be offered to the public.

any ideas as for how can we make this to be classified as AOW by the ATF?

Maybe not, but the patented technology will not remain patented for ever.  What is the time for patent expiration, about 17 years?  By that time, the technology should be perfected, and anybody will be able to manufacture one.

Like the Chinese care about patents! All the #rd world supporters of Annon will have them in a year.

A ten-round semi-auto version would probably meet the requirements of current law.

Some issues with Metal Storm pistols are:
1) How do you reload? Do you just throw in a new barrel full of loads? Can you reuse the barrels? How sturdy and stable is the uncased propellant? Can the loads be handloaded?
etc. etc.
2) The way the firearm works:
The first round you fire is close to the muzzle end of the barrel.
The last round you fire is at the other end of the barrel.
Does muzzle velocity and therefore point of impact change from the first round through the last round?

Still, exciting stuff! Potential advantages for a pistol:
a) Fewer moving parts, which could translate to greater accuracy.
b) The electrical trigger should be lighter and smoother, one of the best things that you can do to a firearm to improve accuracy.
c) Lighter weight, without the magazine and cartridge cases. (This might be nullified by having to have a longer barrel to accomodate the ammunition).
d) The handgrip, no longer containing a magazine, can be made as ergonomic as desired, perhaps even detachable and customizable.

Not sure if this is true, but about a year or two ago when I first heard of this weapon, I heard that the inventor was "ripped off" by our government. They ignored his patent and stole the idea from him, but maybe they have worked out a few things since then...

Don't know the specifics of the case you mention, but I understand that inventions affecting national security can have their technology classified to the point that they can't discuss it or work on it/use it except with government approval.  How this would apply if the inventor is outside the U.S. would be an interesting question.

Good point, (if its in the U.S.)-- and since its classified, the patents will not be public, therefore probably nonexistent...