A new super gun...

as much as the concept and technology is impressive, i always find it depressing that so much time/money/effort is spent on weapons development.

and smart weapons have proven to be only as smart as their operators...thus they should be named "weapons of questionable intelligence".

afterthought: and isn't it ironic that we spend a few years developing a weapons technology..and then spend the rest of our lives making sure no one else uses it...

"what a waste of gunpowder and sky"

 

me too. have you read the new Wired? great article on the on going space race and the $10M purse that is the pie in the sky...hopefully somebody does it right...the commercial aspect is a little scary.

hotels in space? how about some-f*cking telescopes on the moon...what happened to the natural drive for humans to explore!

well. heres hopeing (*) a mac will be a useful tool in space.

 

Defense is such a big industry, because they have convinced us that they are needed to protect us and our interests.

 

Sad Sad Sad

 

i.e. their next model will fire a million rounds a second and have better targeting so you'll have to rush out and buy up the new ones before the enemy does.

It's almost worse than the computer industry.

 

-Great

Now we can do more than render people dead, we can render them seriously dead.

 

Yup we can always use a gun that shoots 1000000 round a minute. Gotta get those super deer!

 

Dont forget that it is human nature for some to be evil and destructive.

If there is no defense against that, then the people who arent evil and destructive are as good as dead.

 

-A rethought

At first I thought 16,666 rounds a second was way excessive, then I thought of a practical use - believe it or not.

Replacement for a battleship's Phalanx guns. 16,666 rounds/sec would definitiely be useful there - not to mention this gun is smaller, and thus more nimble.

Do you suppose this is some sort of Rail gun? No moving parts and caseless ammo seems to lend to this theory.

 

Why so negative everyone?

Beyond it's obvious extreme destructive power, the article says it can be electronically programmed to not fire in certain areas (such as schools). If that worked as promised, and this technology picks up, it seems to me that it could make some places much safer. (ie schools, where we've had problems with guns lately)

 

YES!

SSSUuUPPPPAAARRR GUUN!!

This will save us all... wait, I'm thinking of world peace, this will rip us to shreads.

 

If it takes you a million rounds to hit your target, maybe you shouldn't be the one behind the gun.

 

Now if we can just get it in the hands of kids.....

 

Now, now....

Guns don't kill people, bullets do.

Have they actually shot this thing for a full minute or do they run out of ammo after 3 seconds? They don't mention that the bullet cartridge is the size of a refrigerator.

I could have used one of these down at the boardwalk for that game where you're supposed to shoot the star completely out of the paper target.

 

-jayscheuerle

I suppose it'd have to be. But al least with caseless ammo, all of that capacity would be only bullets.

Have you seen the Phalanx? The Ammo carrier is the size of a small car!

Phalanx

 

Who knew R2D2 had a schwantz!

 

I guess I'm in the minority but I think it's a pretty cool piece of technology.

It is effective w/both lethal and non-lethal ammunition.
It could be used to create "smart guns" so only authorized users can fire the weapon, and "dead zones" so the weapon will not fire if taken into specific locations (schools, government building, etc.,)
And, as another user pointed out, it could be used to replace current anti-missle weapons.

Obviously the "bullet firing" version would not likely be an anti-personal weapon because that would be uber overkill. But it could be an anti-armor weapon (something in the same vein as the A-10's tank shredder).

Here's a blurb from a FAQ at the Metal Storm website:

"Metal Storm is much more than a gun system. Outside its application as a weapon system, the technology has potential application in a range of diverse commercial areas, including fire fighting, precision agricultural chemical distribution, fastening systems for use in the construction industry, and seismic surveying for minerals and oil.

Also Metal Storm is not just about firing bullets. First and foremost Metal Storm is an electronically controlled delivery system. One which can store and fire bullets, or grenades, and which can just as easily fire massed containers of fire retardant powder, or similarly, agricultural chemicals.

Metal Storm Limited is pressing ahead with both military and civilian applications of the technology, including, in the longer term, applications such as industrial fasteners and nails, and, in the shorter term, an exciting aerial fireworks system capable of creating unique air-burst patterns and colours, and perhaps even complex advertising slogans in the night sky."


Lethal

 

Lethal,

Here's a thought about non-lethal ordinace coming from this monster.

If we go on a supposed 1" long "rubber bullet", even foam rubber for that matter...

1 million shots per minute = 16,666 per second (pretty fast!)

Obviously, they can't come out on top of each other, but if they came out end to end (like a stream), that would be 16,666 inches per second or 60,000,000 inches per hour or 947 miles per hour (faster than the speed of sound!).

A chunk of foam going 500 mph doomed the Space Shuttle. A mini-marsmallow going 947 mph would rip a pretty good hole in your arm.

No judgement here. Just an intoxicated math correlation!

 

That's why the non-lethal ammo would come out of the grenader launcher and not the uber-gun. Plus they have may varients of this tecnology, like hand guns and a flash-bang launcher, on their website. The CNN article, which has a link to their site, is only focusing on two of their products and only on military applications. Police departments have shown interest in their handguns because planned models would be able to fire both lethal and non-lethal munitions from the a single, multi-barreled handgun.

I would suggest reading up on their products before condeming them. They have suggested uses for their tech in firefighting, construction and even firework displays.


Lethal

 

No condemnations here, just observations.

I hadn't read further on the technical aspects of the million shotter, but it will only hit that rate with the 36 barrel unit (crowd control I guess?).

That would knock the speed down to 26 miles per hour (minimum) using increasingly flawed math.

The article also says it only holds 540 rounds, which would be gone in about a 30th of a second. That's a big "whoops!"

It will be interesting to see where or if this pans out in the next 5 years. - j