cchris

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BRISBANE, Australia (CNN) -- Imagine a gun that fires a million rounds a minute -- enough to shred a target in a blink of an eye, or throw up a defensive wall against an incoming missile.

This is Metal Storm, a weapons system that forsakes old-style mechanics for the speed of electronics.

Its inventor is Mike O'Dwyer, a one-time grocer in the Australian city of Brisbane. He's spent 30 years and much of his own money to develop the technology.

Now, finally, the doors are opening for him at the Pentagon, the U.S. Defense Department's headquarters.

O'Dwyer says that the real value comes from Metal Storm's electronic capability to deliver rates of fire and different types of projectiles very precisely.

The weapons range from a handgun that can only be operated by an authorized user to a grenade launcher that can fire either lethal or non-lethal ammunition.

While much of the technology is a closely guarded secret, the firing mechanism has no moving parts. Instead, it uses electronic ballistics technology. Unlike other guns, the only parts which move are the bullets.

The Metal Storm handgun employs electronic locking, which can limit firing access and stop unauthorized use. It can even be programmed not to fire within, say, the grounds of a school.

Its grenade launcher can give the same defensive security as a minefield, but without physically putting any explosives in the area being guarded. Instead, sensors can alert an operator to any intrusion. The operator can then decide whether to use lethal or non-lethal grenades to warn off -- or destroy -- the intruder.

O'Dwyer is a passionate advocate of applying technology to modern warfare and the rise of networking in defense thinking.


A 16-pod grenade launcher -- one of the Metal Storm range.
"Where network-centric warfare is going is moving the principal systems of weapons from the big, heavy, slow stuff to the small, light, fast, inexpensive (weapons), many of (which) -- and here's the important part -- is very smart."

It's this promise of speed and flexibility that has got the American and Australian military to commit $60 million in research and development funding for O'Dwyer's array of weapons.

Metal Storm started in a small Brisbane workshop, where all the prototypes have been built.

Increasingly, the project looks to the United States, where most of its staff are now based and where it hopes to clinch sales to defense agencies and police forces next year.

Going global has been in O'Dwyer's sights for many years. It's a target that gets a little larger and a little closer every day.

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phredgreen

hm. that's like a phalanx gun with more goodies. interesting toy. i'd be interested to see pictures of it in action.

*edit*

after having looked closer, i think i still like the phalanx gun better. this one seems to have too many limitations as far as the amount of ammo it can fire in one shebang.

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Slims

We got to see a video of it in action about four years ago in my high school ap physics class. Someones father was in the military and he had snagged one of their promotional videos.

It looked neat, but it seemed somewhat less than practical. The bullets and powder are 'stacked' in the barrel, and then set off one at a time. How would you reload? What about the changing barrel length? etc.

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Somenosuke

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bermuDa

oh great, another way to kill people without any honor.

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phredgreen

government military contracts = gads of money

-therefore-

creative energies are used to this end.

when it starts paying to make shiny happy peaceful warm fuzzy machines they'll be made in droves, but until then, scientists will continue to do research where the money is.

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MSD

Caseless ammo is reloaded by placing a tube against the end of the barrel (or sliding it in, depending on the configuration.) Either the tube is removed after loading, or is an empty clip to be ejected after it is expended.

The handgun was featured in Popular Mechanics a few years ago, and has 7 or 8 barrels, each with differnt types of ammunition, lethal and non-lethal. Future models may include an LCD screen to display what fire mode is active and which ammo is selected.

Lebell

To bad the world isn't a warm fuzzy place, or to paraphrase,

What if there was a war and no one came? Why the war would come to you.

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vermin

How, exactly, do you kill a person with honor?

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Gortexfogg

If they had a couple of those in 'Aliens' maybe Hudson and Vasques would have survived... very cool stuff.

Sparhawk

With one of these:
<img src="http://www.dfoggknives.com/images/katana.jpg">

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Dragonlich

Sure. As soon as you can arrange for your enemy to face you in hand-to-hand (or katana-to-katana) combat, you can fight with honor.

I'll be the one standing 50 meters away blowing your honorable arse to bits.

By the way, since when is cutting people up into little bits with a big sword honorable? Just because the enemy can fight back doesn't make it honorable, only stupid.

bermuDa

word sparhawk, that's what I was thinking...

Ever seen the episode of Rurouni Kenshin with the gattling gun? That's what prompted my first post...

trying to fight someone with a sword when they have a gun is stupid; unfortunately the days of duels and honor are long gone... the winner is whoever can be more sneaky and underhanded.

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Dragonlich

Actually, ideally there should be no honor on the battlefield at all... The best general is he who can win the battle before it even starts - the resulting fight is a slaughter, not at all honorable.

Let's put it this way: if I were to have a choice between fighting fairly and honorable, or fighting sneaky and underhanded, I'll choose the latter option. The reason is simple: fighting honorable means giving the enemy a chance to win; the objective of a battle is to win, and NOT give the enemy a chance. Any other option is stupid. And if you don't believe me, try reading Sun Tzu...

oblar

and since when has a war with swords been honorable?

yes, perhaps a 1on1 match with swords would be honorable, but weren't dueling with pistols honorable as well?

when you have war though, a person will slice you in the back given the chance and more than likely you will sit on the ground in agonizing pain waiting for it to end...

personally i think i would rather have several bullets to the head then a couple of slices leaving me mortally wounded, but able to survive for a few hours.

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Lebell

Romantic warfare is a fantasy and best left to novels and movies.

And "honorable" killing?

Please.

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Snoogans

I want it... I want it bad.

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WhoaitsZ

the moral of the story: do not fuck with grocers



as for honor? Honor is great, honor is important. Honor doesn't belong in a war.

Conclamo Ludus

Pretty cool, but can you fit in a hand gun?

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Ashton

I'll stick with the good old Browning 50 Cal.

Ashton

Miniguns are fun too

Phaenx

Oh boy, people are basing their opinions about the military on anime now? We're doomed!

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hotzot

I need one for deer hunting and protection against the terrorist... maybe I should get two.

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drawerfixer

If we fight without honor, the terrorists will have won.

:S

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The_Dude

u can do a lot of damage w/ that sucka

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MacGnG

i'm all about lazer cannons

Captain Canada

God I wanna see the video of that thing.

THE MAC GOD

God, I love gatling guns... hmmmmmm

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rockogre

I appreciate your take on this but being a guy I only think of what a toy for tearing up the back yard. I'm not really into killing people so maybe we can comprimise on this.

And gophers, that thing would be hell on gophers.

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Phaenx

There's an idea. Sit a flak cannon in the back yard to tear up those pesky geese of mine.

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shalafi

they have a video of it for download on the frontpage of their site. i havent watched it yet its still downloading but heres the link if anyone wants it metalstorm

Dilbert1234567

Drools

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muckluck

I personally think this is a good idea. A mindfield without accual explosives in the ground. Saves are government time and money because of no explosives to clear after the war is over. But 100,000+ rpm sounds wasteful. I personaly am a fan of the minigun or the .50 caliber browning.

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Moonduck

"I'll be the one standing 50 meters away blowing your honorable arse to bits. "

Right on, Dragonlich. We disagree on Philosophy, but I'm right with ya here =)

muckluck

HAHA!! Hilarious . I agree.

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miked10270

OK, seen the video. Looks to me like it's a sort of "grenade launcher meets PIR" thing. I'm guessing that the "240,000" rounds/minute refers to the sub-munitions.

I guess that setting one up would save actually sowing a minefield, so it's simpler & more economical, but there'd still be the issue of faulty "fail to detonate" munitions. There's also the issue of countermeasures against the detector and for that I guess we won't be seeing the end of traditional landmines just yet.

Will the military buy in - sure. the real question is will the NRA folk get the ultimate weapon against garden squirrells?

Mike.

roc759

We must kill people honorably in warfare?

This reminds me of the Jannissaries, who sent a message to their somewhat better armed opponents to drop their firearms and come fight honorably like men. The opposition didn't, of course, and the Jannissaries took a drubbing.

So...what is "honorable"? Whose notion of honor do we buy into? Japanese bushido? European 12th century chivalric codes? Victorian notions of sporting fair play?

How about we do this: We do whatever it takes to win, but strive to keep innocents as safe as possible...which is, granted, difficult to do. This particular metal storm technology will eliminate minefields, and save countless arms and legs and lives of civilians who might otherwise stumble into a minefield laid as an area denial weapon.

THAT is honorable, don't you think?

Looften

I'd perfer the simplicity of standard weapons. I'd hate to imagine a live grenade getting sent into a pack of protesters because the operator forgot to switch the button to non-lethal. At least with standard arms there is only the human factor to blame.

GlassHouse420

thats quite awesome

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sportsrule101

that is wicked cool. set that up in iraq and see who charges at that

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