Metal Storm :: Technology Weapons Essays

Metal Storm What is Metal Storm? Metal Storm is a revolutionary type of ballistics technology, utilizing electrical impulses to fire projectiles, rather than conventional mechanical impulses. These weapons have no moving parts aside from the projectiles themselves. The bullets are stacked on end in the barrel, separated only by a thin layer of propellant. A small electric current passing through the barrel ignites the propellant, firing the bullet from the barrel. To prevent one layer of propellant from igniting the rest of the propellant in the barrel, causing a disastrous chain reaction, the bullets are modified so that the head of the bullet will expand, sealing the barrel, when the bullet ahead of it is fired. Because of this and the nature of its electrical firing system, Metal Storm offers a variable rate of fire, from semi-automatic to a devastating 45 thousand rounds per minute per barrel, with each bullet leaving the barrel at only 4† behind the last. Also, because all that is necessary to prope l a bullet from the barrel is an electrical impulse, many barrels can be placed in an array and fired all at once. Metal Storm Ltd., the company that produces Metal Storm ballistics technology, has produced a prototype gun, nicknamed â€Å"Bertha,† which can fire at a rate of up to 1.62 million rounds per minute. Comparing this to the fastest rate previously achieved by a machine gun of 6,000 rounds per minute, one can begin to see the deadly power of this technology. And while one might think that energy would be an inherent problem with an electrical firing system, in this case, it’s not. Because the electric current is only used to ignite the gun propellant, only a very small amount of energy is required, and Metal Storm weapon can operate easily on the power from a simply flashlight battery. In addition to the machine gun, this technology is also being put to use in other applications, including a handgun variant (intended for use by military and police), a sniper-rifle (recently contracted by the United State’s Department of Defense), and even an Area-Denial Weapons System (to replace land mines), which can be operated by a single man to fire up to 1800 grenades and 360 solid mortar rounds intelligently aimed at enemy units in only a quarter of a second. Beyond this, they have also begun work on a fully automated aircraft.