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World's deadliest gun: Australian storm of metal terror

Wanda Fish

It is only one who is thoroughly acquainted with the evils of war that can thoroughly understand the profitable way of carrying it on. — Sun Tzu, The Art of War

In the wake of the London bombings and angry condemnation of terrorism, the Australian invention of the world’s deadliest gun delivers a weapon of ultimate terror that will be used by those countries that claim to fight terrorism.

Metal Storm, an Australian company whose shares have recently skyrocketed on the stock exchange, has developed a robotized killing machine capable of firing more than 1 million rounds a minute — enough to shred an entire building in the blink of an eye.

The potential applications, being developed with the US Department of Defense, Boeing, Lockheed and Dragonfly Pictures (aerial surveillance company), threaten to make the death and destruction caused by terrorists a mere footnote in the killing of innocent civilians. Their stated intention is to deploy the lethal weapon in “hostile urban environments” and it has been reported in the mainstream media that this deadly weapon will be used in Iraq.

Metal Storm technology, invented by a Brisbane grocer, is an electronically initiated, stacked projectile system, which removes the mechanical steps required to fire a conventional weapon. In effect, the only parts that move in Metal Storm’s weapons are the projectiles contained within the barrels.

Multiple projectiles are stacked in a barrel, each separated by a propellant load. The technology allows each projectile to be fired sequentially from the barrel.

Metal Storm’s fully loaded barrel tubes are essentially serviceable weapons, without the traditional ammunition feed or ejection system, breech opening or any other moving parts. Metal Storm barrels can be effectively grouped in multiple configurations to meet a diversity of deadly applications.

Working with the US Army and other weaponry and surveillance companies, Metal Storm’s terrifying force can ultimately be deployed on land, underwater, over water and from the air with unmanned robots and helicopters that are remote controlled. Despite claims that Metal Storm’s work is shrouded in secrecy, this information is accessible on the net from the company’s own website, mainstream press reports, stock exchange information and is even published Defense Review articles.

In one such posting, David Crane reported that Metal Storm had successfully completed a series of live-fire tests in front of senior personnel from the US Department of Defense using a 16-round prototype 40mm grenade launcher system which was mounted to an unmanned ground vehicle.

The Defense Review article also mentioned that an in-flight live-fire demonstration of an unmanned aerial vehicle did not receive clearance due to “operational restrictions”. The test would have mounted the Metal Storm 40mm weapon onto a Dragonfly unmanned aerial vehicle that would essentially create an unmanned combat air vehicle, capable of hailing down deadly arsenal of apocalyptic destruction. However, more recent announcements from Metal Storm’s CEO infer that a live test will be conducted soon, and that the aerial weaponry may be available for military application soon.

Multiple applications

The development of this weapon takes on a new and frightening application in the war on terror, where authorities are now encouraging police to “shoot to kill” in urban environments. Metal Storm proudly boasts that the technology can be used for “non-lethal” or lethal applications in “hostile urban environments”.

The potential for this weapon to be used by civil authorities to control angry crowds of protesters cannot be dismissed. Given the overwhelming response by millions of anti-war protesters prior to the invasion of Iraq, it seems only logical that Coalition of the Willing governments are keen to find new and more effective means of crowd dispersal, particularly if pre-emptive invasions of nation states continue.

But it is the wartime applications that are most disturbing. With Metal Storm’s technology, Coalition soldiers can remain safely behind the front line while the Unmanned Ground Vehicle (UVG) uses sensors and targeting capabilities to attack hostile urban areas. This development could be the turning point in the Iraq occupation which has tainted the enthusiasm of the dwindling number of American pro-war supporters as around 2000 US soldiers have been killed during an occupation in which more than 100,000 innocent Iraqi civilians have died.

Now, the surviving Iraqi civilians face the terrible spectre of a robot that can devastate every living creature in a hailstorm of more than one million bullets a minute.

While the Iraqi death toll has the potential to mount to tsunami proportions, American soldiers can “safely” annihilate entire urban populations without personal risk. Metal Storm’s UVGs will be able to penetrate resistance pockets such as Fallujah, and indiscriminately kill every man, woman, child and animal in a storm of lethal bullets.

“Integrating Metal Storm’s electronic weapon system with small, lightweight UAV helicopters, will enable them, for the first time, to undertake small scale strikes to support ground troops by day or night, escort convoys, clear roads and retaliate against mobile, man-launched ordnance such as those used in Iraq recently”, said Mike O’Dwyer, the inventor of this formidable death machine which has become the world’s only known fully electronic ballistics system. In the time you have taken to read this, Metal Storm’s super “gun” can have fired several million bullets.

O’Dwyer recalls watching World War II footage of kamikaze aircraft attacking Allied ships, and the difficulty of dealing with them. When he developed the weapon and launched the company in 1999, he had no way of understanding how this invention could turn the tide in a war waged by suicide bombers and a world besieged by terrorism.

Exposed: $200m missile bungle

Tom Allard

A DEFENCE bungle could force Australia to scrap a missile-dodging system for its F/A-18 Hornet jet fighters after it emerged that it cannot be integrated into the planes.

At a potential cost to taxpayers of about $200 million, , the failing electronic warfare system was chosen against the initial advice of an expert panel - and now the blunder threatens Australia's air combat superiority in the region.

"It's a disaster," one Defence source, intimate with the program, told the Herald. "It's blowing up in their faces. This is putting our people at risk."

The lucrative contract was awarded to the Adelaide-based BAE Systems, even though the firm's technology was unproven. Now its system, known as the ALR2002, cannot be properly integrated into the Hornet's flight system, according to several sources close to the project.

It is the latest in a series of high-profile blunders by the military's procurement arm.

In 2001 an internal Defence panel of specialists in aerospace and electronic warfare recommended against the Adelaide firm. But this was overturned in 2004, when the former defence minister, Robert Hill, who was a South Australian senator, named BAE Systems as the winning contractor. Its missile-dodging system was chosen over another, made in the US by Raytheon, which has already been successfully integrated with similar jets.

A committee of Defence officials has been appointed to handle the crisis.

Electronic warfare systems incorporate some of the most advanced, and highly classified, technology in the world. They enable pilots to detect transmissions from enemy missiles, aircraft, surface-to-air guns and ships. It gives them time to take evasive action or launch a strike, and signals whether their jets have been spotted by enemy radar.

BAE Systems would not comment on the problems but a spokeswoman, Shelley Mearns, said the technology was still in a "developmental test phase". Any "formal acceptance from Defence will come later in the year".

A Defence spokeswoman said: "There was recognised be to an element of developmental risk involved in the selection of the ALR2002. However, this was offset by the potential advantages in developing an indigenous electronic warfare capability within Australia and the employment benefits to Australian industry."

The spokeswoman declined to confirm or deny the problems, but said analysis of flight trials in recent weeks would be presented for Defence management "in the next few weeks".

But as technicians and flight crew at Williamtown air base, near Newcastle, struggle to fully install the technology, the timetable and cost projections have blown out.

Funds were already being diverted from other programs for the upgrade of the Hornets, a source said. The electronic warfare project was priced at $350 million to $400 million in 2004 but the problems mean it is likely to rise by at least 50 per cent. "It may be cheaper to go back to the drawing board and start again," a source said. "It's that bad."

RAAF pilots are among the best trained in the world but are frustrated with the shortcomings of the ALR2002. Their concerns are acute because of the wide proliferation of new-generation missiles, including shoulder-launched weapons, in the past decade.

Also, countries such as Indonesia, India and China now have fighter jets with more advanced self-protection.

The Hornet will be Australia's only fighter jet after the F-111s are retired in 2010, filling the gap until the trouble-plagued Joint Strike Fighter is delivered.

OTHER BLUNDERS

- Super Seasprites Custom-made naval helicopter built from Vietnam-era airframes and the latest flight system technology for $1 billion. Remains grounded and could be ditched altogether (Done).

- Tiger helicopters - the attack helicopters could be $700 million over budget and were accepted despite failing more than a dozen airworthiness tests, the Auditor-General found.

- Joint Strike Fighter is still in design phase. Up to $15 billion for 100 jets but concerns about big delays and cost blow-outs.