Re: New gun
- From: Big John <BigJohn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Mon, 23 Jan 2006 10:34:49 -0600
OOPS
Had to build a new computer and when operational didn't see the
original post on this group so resent. Please erase the duplicate
posting :o(
Big John
``````````````````````````````````````````````````````
On Mon, 23 Jan 2006 00:12:51 -0600, Big John <BigJohn@xxxxxxxxxxx>
wrote:
>New super-gun to be tested in Feb
>```````````````````````````````````````````````````````````````
>
>By PAMELA HESS
>UPI Pentagon Correspondent
>
>WASHINGTON, Jan. 20 (UPI) -- Next month a new high-explosive munition
>will be fired in Singapore and then tested again by the U.S. Army,
>heralding what may be a sea change in weaponry: a gun that can fire
>240,000 rounds per minute.
>
>That's compared to 60 rounds per minute in a standard military machine
>gun.
>
>Metal Storm Inc., a munitions company headquartered in Virginia but
>with its roots in Australia, has been developing a gun that can shoot
>at blistering speeds, albeit in short bursts as each barrel is
>reloaded.
>
>A Metal Storm gun of any size -- from a 9 mm hand-gun up to a machine
>gun size or a grenade launcher -- has no moving parts other than the
>bullets or munition inside the barrel. Rather than chambering a single
>slug for each shot - very quickly in the case of machine guns -- the
>bullets come pre-stacked inside the barrel and can be shot all at
>once, or one at a time, as the shooter decides through the electronic
>controls.
>
>Because there are no moving parts, the weapon is less likely to jam,
>and will presumably need less maintenance.
>
>Lashing many barrels together increases the number of rounds per
>second. Once fired, however, each spent barrel has to be reloaded.
>
>Starting in 2006 the company will demonstrate its prototypes with
>applicability that is especially likely to interest the U.S. military.
>The weapon system can be mounted on an unmanned ground combat vehicle,
>an unmanned aerial vehicle, and might be used as a defense against
>rocket-propelled grenades and mortars.
>
>Metal Storm's speed allows it to lay down a blinding wall of slugs
>that can intercept and pulverize incoming enemy fire, according to
>company CEO David Smith. As long as the grenade or mortar is fired
>from outside a range of about 50 meters or 162.5 feet and a Doppler
>radar is in use, a Metal Storm system could be an effective defense,
>he told UPI.
>
>Closer than that and there is just not time to react.
>
>"But if you are from 50 meters and beyond, if everything can work fast
>enough -- the radar -- there is enough time mathematically" to shoot
>down incoming fire, Smith said.
>
>At least 153 U.S. troops have been killed in Iraq by enemy rockets and
>mortars since the start of the war. Nearly 2,000 have been wounded.
>
>The grenade launcher barrel can also carry less-than-lethal munitions,
>like small bean bags, sponge grenades or smoke. On Jan. 16, the Army
>awarded Metal Storm a $975,000 contract to further develop its
>non-lethal rounds.
>
>"Our so-called competition is (the) Mk19 - grenade machine gun," Smith
>said. "It's enormously heavy. It takes six people to carry it into a
>battlefield scene. It's not mobile.
>
>"But the military has had this transition out of big system
>warfighting into much lighter, higher firepower that can be carried
>into battle by individuals or light vehicles. Our guns have no moving
>parts -- so they have the same amount of fire power at significantly
>reduced weight ratio."
>
>Metal Storm technology has been under development for about a decade,
>but a series of small-business innovative research contracts awarded
>recently by the Department of Energy and the Army mean prototypes are
>now being produced and demonstrated.
>
>"We are to the point we can start providing prototypes. The Army is
>very, very parochial in how they buy weapon systems," Smith said. "But
>now we can put it into an actual environment."
>
>The company is also studying whether it can mount a Metal Storm weapon
>on a small helicopter, particularly looking at the recoil effect from
>the gun.
>
>Smith said such a system - deployable down to the squad level -- could
>be useful in a place like Iraq, where it's a common tactic for
>insurgents to launch a mortar and then run. By the time soldiers on
>foot or in a vehicle get to the launch site, the shooters are long
>gone. But a UAV quickly launched can see where the shooters run to,
>and if a gun is on board, can shoot at them.
>
>The Australian military is testing a Metal Storm gun of its own, the
>Advanced Individual Combat Weapon (AICW). The AICW combines both an
>assault rifle and a 40 mm grenade launcher in a single unit with a
>common trigger, allowing the shooter to choose which munition he wants
>to fire without having to refit his weapon. It also allows three
>grenades to be fired at once, whereas one is the only option in the
>current generation of weapons.
>
>Metal Storm Inc. will demonstrate a high-explosive munition with a
>10-meter (32.5 feet) or burst radius in Singapore on Feb. 6, Smith
>said, and for the Army's Picatinny Arsenal and Armament Research,
>Development and Engineering Center later that month.
>
>
>
> © Copyright 2006 United Press International, Inc. All
>Rights Reserved
>Want to email or reprint this story? Click here for options.
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>Analysis: U.N. says Ivory Coast calm
>
>By WILLIAM M. REILLY
>UPI U.N. Correspondent
>1/21/2006 7:17:00 PM -0500
>The United Nations says four days of violent, orchestrated,
>demonstrations in Ivory Coast against the world organization and its
>peacekeepers appear to ...
>
>
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