Video: 1 Million rounds per minute is now ready

by Infidelesto on November 20, 2007 · Comments

4_barrel.jpg

Mark Rutherford at clnet News:

After years of development, a new class of weapon that uses computer-controlled electronic ignition instead of primers to fire projectiles may be finally taking its much coveted place in the U.S. military inventory.

Brisbane, Australia-based Metal Storm has delivered a four-barrel weapon to the Naval Surface Warfare Center for testing that uses a small electrical current instead a conventional firing pin to deliver stacked rounds at an astounding rate.

How astounding? Try 1 million rounds per minute. That’s the rate, by the way, not the volume; still, there’s no way you want to be anywhere near the wrong end of one of these puppies.

One version, the Redback, features a remotely operated 40mm that can automatically track targets by slewing around at almost 2 complete revolutions per second, according to the company. “The employment of Metal Storm’s stacked round technology for a U.S. military weapon system is a huge step for us,” Metal Storm CEO Lee Finniear said in the company’s press release.

Electronically fired weapons and the general concept have been around for awhile–Austrian company Voere offers an electric, bolt-action hunting rifle–but nothing has approached Metal Storm (PDF). Metal Storm weapons use multiple, “lightweight, economical barrels” mounted in pods on a variety of platforms that can fire a wide selection of munitions.

The projectiles are stacked in-line in the barrel–nose to tail–so there are no magazines, no shell casings, and no mechanical components. This makes them ideal for unattended area denial or picket duty. They are also easily adapted to light vehicles and robot platforms. In fact, the company just signed an MOU with iRobot Government & Industrial Robots to combine its robot platforms with Metal Storm’s scalable systems.

“Together with Metal Storm, we aim to develop a superior next-generation weapons platform that ensures absolute safety and always places a human in the decision loop,” iRobot’s Joe Dyer promised in announcing the agreement. “When you are talking about weaponizing robots, there is no margin for error.”

Especially at a million rounds per minute.

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  • Tonto
    I gotta agree with Ed.....war porn......aaaaaah!  The nifty new gadgets the kids got now are pretty neat, and I've heard stories about how the AKs are more "spray and pray" in the hands of the muz.  This "monster box" thingy I've seen before...awesome!  I looked at a bunch of the connected vids and was really gettin off until wifey came in and brought me back to reality.  I keep thinking about how it could have been back in my day.  We still did OK with the M-14s and the new M-16, but the new day and a new mission is coming so they need new tools.  Necessity is always the mother of invention.  And, as always, boots on the ground determine the victors.
  • Snake_Oil_Baron
    Firewolf: That makes sense. I remember a few years back when news video of a bank robber in body armor was very difficult for the police to take down. I seem to recall that several police were shot before he was stopped. Then thug's family lead the elitists in the media on a pity party because the paramedics attended to the cops before the bank robber. I might be mixing up two instances there but anyway...

    The point being that a heavilly armed and armoured assailent could do a lot of damage before being stopped if he were to attack a military base or embasy and a weapon like this could stop many different attacks including, as you mention, vehicles in a way that would be more situationally apropriate than explosive munitions. I can now see how a weapon like this could be useful.
  • jennyjen
    I want one!!!! I'd strap that bitch up in the back of my truck and have a helluva time! SWEET!!
  • Firewolf
    Yeah, its it may be overkill, but it's an Area Denial system, able to defend against a variety of opponents including very well aRMORED PERSONELL IS AN ADVANTAGE, NOT TO MENTION THAT ITS 40MM, AND WITH THAT ROF, ITS QUITE SCARY, AND IT WOULD BE ABLE TO PULVERISE LARGE VEHICLES... AND WITH ITS VARY FAST SWIVEL, ITS QUITE THE WEAPON.

    sorry about the caps, lol.
  • Tom Fulp
    what the heck wheres teh video!
  • I wish I had seen this earlier but I will check back in a few days to see if anyone has responded.

    "The projectiles are stacked in-line in the barrel–nose to tail–so there are no magazines, no shell casings, and no mechanical components. This makes them ideal for unattended area denial or picket duty. They are also easily adapted to light vehicles and robot platforms. In fact, the company just signed an MOU with iRobot Government & Industrial Robots to combine its robot platforms with Metal Storm’s scalable systems."

    This helps explain why the general concept is an advance but I wonder if someone could inform me as to whether the ability to fire at a rate of a million rounds per minute is useful. It would be overkill for use against enemy personnel (many terrorists can be killed for the cost of physically liquidating one) but I would suspect that a small explosive or kinetic projectile would seem to be better against equipment than a large number of bullets. What is the expected application of the high fire rate?

    Thanks.
  • uhhhhhh... mnnnnnn... ohhhhhh... war pron!
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