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.