Wednesday 11 February 2009

Metal Storm.

Bob asked the question, "MetalStorm Mortar?".

Funnily enough it's something I've got a massive interest in and I've never really blogged about it. Dunno why.

One of 'my videos' on Youtube has almost 2,000,000 views. It's on the Metal Storm platform of Mortar. It has 24 barrels and each barrel has 4 rounds (I think) in each. Metal Storm is basically stacked caseless ammo that's electronically fired by a computer. This means it can fire at rates from 1 round per mintue to 1,000,000 rounds per minute. 4 x 24 barrels at a rate of 1,000,000 rounds sounds like a single 'whump'. It's incredible. What that means is that it can fire all those rounds off at once and decimate a huge area all at the same time. By placing sensors under a prearranged area it can select targets and dump the required amount of ordinance to decimate by volume.

There's 'Area Denial' which is autonomous turrets that will acquire and destroy targets at the same rate of fire. It can shoot down RPG's before your eye knows one has been fired.

One of 'my videos' showing an overview of the tech. I used it in my Tuchola story.



Here's the Mortar. It's actually been linked by some high profile websites. I'm proud of this one, but sick of the fucken retarded comments it gets.

This is a test of the prototype. Is NOT the finished product.

15 comments:

  1. I have soooo got to get one...

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  2. The guy that started MS was a woolies manager and part time inventor. The best thing is he is a Qlder. I remember when they first went public, it was huge. Then nothing. The yanks put a blanket over it for testing. When he first showed some US generals a vid what he had,(a gatling kind of dealy) they called him a liar.
    local boy makes good

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  3. Metal Storm is shit-scary tech.

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  4. Sweet.

    What is your youtube channel? Sorry if I've missed it elsewhere.

    R.

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  5. Rhino ~ IF you just double click on one of these videos it'll take you to Youtube. Up the top right of the video info you'll see a dude wearing a mask. That's me. lol. Just click my 'name' Bonesthecat. That'll take you to my channel. I had some cool vids on Iraq that got banned. Shock factor. Pffffft. You can find the same vids on other channels. There's one of a Marine shooting a wounded 'insurgent'...enemy...whatever. It's interesting.

    Uamada ~ It's an interesting story eh?.

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  6. That is some pretty fucking scary weaponry there, Pokey.

    You know who this is, right? You better or else.. lol

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  7. I don't know if I'm missing something but once you get past the 'gee whiz' factor I see a big problem with this type of weapon. That is, it takes for ever to reload. Yep it fires a couple of bullets/granades/cannons out of a single barrel at a gizzilion miles an hour but then takes up to ten or twenty times longer to load it?
    I can see how it would be great in automated systems, with hundreds of barrels and such but I see limited use as a hand held weapon. First I want to aim each shoot so I don't miss when I fire on full auto so fast that I can't correct the aim and second bulling barrels on and off is bulky and time consuming. A magazine is much more functional.

    In essence the loading system needs to be as fast as the firing rate for it to be truely awesome in MHO

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  8. Mick, I've always seen the 'storm as an ideal area denial system or as a CIWS. Back in the late 90's the British Army actually tested a 10 barrel unit on a Warrior MICV to test it as protection against ATGM's. Allegeldy it actually rocked the Warrior backwards so nothing further was done.

    As a small arms system I see it as impraticable. However in a support aspect I feel it has many applications. Once they can move the calibre up to 82mm or greater that is where it will come into it's own. but also i feel it's use as a CIWS esp in ships needs to be looked at closer.

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  9. Occasionally I hook into the MS web site. I'm impressed with the potential of MS. Just hope the bad guys don't get it first.

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  10. Unfortunately the tech isn't a secret - well, fortunate for us, but, you know... - it's just the solutions to the problems that's the secret.

    Mick ~ Some applications of the tech would be more effective than others. I PERSONALLY think of the Mortar as an airborne selective minefield. Maybe it's autonomous as part of an area denial setup incorporating turrets AS WELL as the mortar system. It's cheap enough to be a one shot wonder. Maybe it could be used as support for a specific task. Maybe the pods could be attached to aircraft. Maybe for tear gas. Maybe flares. Maybe smoke screens. Who knows, but someone will think of an effective role for it.

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  11. I always thought metal storm would be an effective upgrade to the ship defence 'goalkeeper' system.

    Great post.

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  12. Thanks mate. Yeah I think it will be. The yank Navy have their fingers n the pie.

    The Customers:

    Boeing
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    Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)
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    Department of Energy
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    Lockheed Martin
    #
    National Institute of Justice (NIJ)
    #
    Naval Sea Systems Command
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    Naval Surface Warfare Command Dahlgren
    #
    Office of Naval Research (ONR)
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    Picatinny
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    Space and Naval Warfare Command (SPAWAR)
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    U.S. Missile Defense Agency
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    U.S. Army Armaments Research, Development, Engineering Command (ARDEC)
    #
    U.S. Marine Corps Warfighting Laboratory
    #
    U.S. Special Operations Command (SOCOM)

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  13. Off topic but when I asked about Birmo I meant to be asking about Barnesm. But then today I found him thru your blog anyway so thanks for the help!

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  14. Picatinny? never have too many picatinny rails...*drool*

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  15. No worries Red.

    LOL Chaz.

    The National Institute of Justice always makes me laugh. That's some SERIOUS justice.

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