Australia develops supergun

[The diplomat]

Australia has developped a new gun, called metalstorm, that can fire a whopping 1 million rounds per minute! It can fire a wide range of projectiles, from bullets to grenades. With such a huge firing rate, it could be used for intense artillery barrages, as well as anti-missile defense.

full story:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/BUSINESS/06/26/australia.metalstorm/index.html

[Solver]

I can't friggin' believe it. A grenade laucnher with a million rpm... give Al-Quaeda one such thing, and they'd need a column of Tanks to dispatch of the threat.

[General Ludd]

Lovely.

[DinoDoc]

The Pentagon probably has a hard on for this already.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by DinoDoc
The Pentagon probably has a hard on for this already.

Well, they are not the only ones.

[Az]

Yay!

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Azazel
Yay!

Do you think Israel could get one of those? You could probably put it to good use against Hamas.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by The diplomat
Do you think Israel could get one of those?

They don't need it. It doesn't look like something you'd use in urban combat and they already have thier own homegrown missile defense system.

[Az]

Diplo: lack of firepower never was our problem against Hamas.

DD: That missile defence is against TBMs. I don't think you could you metal storm against them, and vice versa.

I am also very interested in that laser thingee. remember, anyone?

[DAVOUT]

Well, lets say that a round costs 100$, and that a guy (or a system) needs shooting during one minute to be considered trained.

It would cost 1 billion to have 10 guys trained.

If the weight of a round is 1 kg, it would take 40 trailers to bring the ammunitions for one minute shot.

[DinoDoc]

Originally posted by DAVOUT
Well, lets say that a round costs 100$,

It can fire different types of rounds.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by Azazel
Diplo: lack of firepower never was our problem against Hamas.

true. I forgot.

That missile defence is against TBMs. I don't think you could you metal storm against them, and vice versa.

Considering that it could fire 1 million rounds per minute in the path of the incoming missile, I'd think that metalstorm would be good against any ballistic missile. After all, what missile could survive a barrage of millions of projectiles in its path?

I am also very interested in that laser thingee. remember, anyone?

Yeah! The US has retrofitted a Boeing 747 with an experimental laser for testing. I also read they are doing simulator tests for a smaller laser that would retrofitted on F-16's. Now that is cool!

[Seeker]

this is new? I swear I've heard of it before, only they were mounting it on helicopters as a means to clear minefields.

[The diplomat]

Originally posted by DAVOUT
Well, lets say that a round costs 100$, and that a guy (or a system) needs shooting during one minute to be considered trained.

It would cost 1 billion to have 10 guys trained.

If the weight of a round is 1 kg, it would take 40 trailers to bring the ammunitions for one minute shot.

I doubt that you would have to use the maximum fire rate for training purposes. Besides, the gun uses all electronics for its firing mechanism. The whole thing is probable computer controlled. So, I doubt that there is much a person has to do, other than input coordinates and hit 'enter'.

[DAVOUT]

If there is no training nor testing, I wonder what kind of friendly fire we can get ! :

Could be a nice Christmas gift for some trigger-happy Texan ...