Original Article: http://dartreview.com/archives/2002/05/22/australian_for_death_the_metal_storm.php
Wednesday, May 22, 2002
Last week Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld cancelled $11 billion in funding for development of the Crusader artillery system in hopes of finding a more suitable replacement to make the U.S. military more 'lethal, mobile, and lighter,' and rumor has it that Rumsfeld has found just that in the greatest Australian import since Fosters, the Metal Storm. For some months I've watched the progress of the Metal Storm in hopes that the U.S. military would turn wise to the gun's wrathful fury and order a few for use against the bin Laden's of the world. Soon enough I may get my wish.
Everyone who has watched the movie Predator no doubt remembers the scene where Minnesota governor Jesse Ventura tears down the entire jungle with his arm-mounted GE M-61 Vulcan Cannon, no doubt General Electric's greatest achievement. Surely, the audience was enthralled with this engineering masterpiece, one of the fastest machine guns ever created, and impressed by its cyclic rate of 6600 rounds per minute, 1100 rounds per barrel. For me, that scene no longer evokes even the slightest testosterone-fueled emotional response. I now sit stone-faced, no twitch of a smile, no mouthed 'awesome.' Instead, I have seen the Xanadu of firearms, and watching Ventura is as entertaining as watching someone's kid brother tool around with his Daisy 'Red Ryder' BB gun in the backyard.
For I have seen the Metal Storm. I have seen the Metal Storm's thirty-six barrels. I have seen the Metal Storm's television sized steel casing. I have also seen the Metal Storm fire over one million rounds per minute per barrel. That's enough to raze even the largest al Qaeda camp. Eat your heart out General Electric.
Anyone familiar with firearms will quickly recognize this as an impossible feat. Before ever reaching those speeds, the moving parts such as the hammer, trigger, breechblock, and shells would surely melt from frictional heat. This would be true, if the Metal Storm were equipped with any moving parts at all. Instead, Mike O'Dwyer, creator of the Metal Storm, describes the gun as 'a barrel tube with an electrical wire attached.' Inside each barrel bullets are lined up end to end, without shell casings. Situated between each bullet is the propellant. An electrical charge is sent down the barrel igniting the propellant and forcing the first bullet from the barrel. In order to prevent all the bullets from going off simultaneously, the pressure created from the first bullet creates swelling in the second bullet, which effectively blocks off the remainder of the barrel. The entire process is repeated to the tune of one million rounds per minute. The fastest modern machine guns keep a gap of about thirty yards between fired rounds; the Metal Storm leaves four inches.
I wanted to see this raw firepower for myself and downloaded the demonstration video from the Internet. Since then, 36 Barrel Metal Storm Prototype Demonstration has become my new favorite film. The first clip demonstrates a respectable 600 rounds per minute, comparable to an automatic rifle used by modern infantry. The Metal Storm performs its task with ease, blowing out a few rounds to warm the barrels for the task at hand. At 30,000 rounds, the next firing sequence, Metal Storm could have called it a day having already surpassed the fastest machine gun cyclic rates fivefold, but the second-long buzz-saw zip of five hundred bullets is mere child's play. Metal Storm wants to show you more...like 60,000 rounds per minute. The sound is frightening, and perhaps the best description I can muster is a giant electronic band-aid being ripped from your leg, or better yet, a semi-truck's air horn in firearm form. Finally, Metal Storm comes to bring the goods, informing the viewer '36 Barrel Prototype: 180 Rounds at 1,000,000 rounds per minute.' A scrolling message prepares me for the impending display: 'A warning siren will sound, then the weapon will fire immediately after the siren ends,' I wring my hands in anticipation.
As the clip runs I fall back into my chair disappointed. The Metal Storm has not failed, no not at all, but its only after the clip, do I realize that 180 rounds at 1,000,000 rounds per minute is only .011 seconds worth of firing. That's one solitary, though deafening, pop, no longer than a single gunshot. This anti-climatic clip is soon remedied by the video's director, who no doubt as disappointed as I, films another clip, 'Target Impact: 180 rounds at 1,000,000 rounds per minute.' If you have ever wondered how matchsticks are made, the folks at Metal Storm are more than happy to oblige you with an answer. The clip 'Target Impact' shows the viewer twelve wooden doors lined up, a loud pop, and in .011 seconds a pile of Shredded Wheat.
While musing over films like Predator and 36 Barrel Metal Storm Prototype Demonstration, I'm reminded of another great Australian legend, Paul Hogan, and his opus Crocodile Dundee. While reminiscing about that scene where Dundee is accosted by switchblade wielding street thugs, Hogan calmly ripostes, 'You call that a knife; this is a knife,' before pulling out his eighteen-inch Bowie knife. If America buys Metal Storms I can only hope that the U.S. Marine bravely staring down several Iraqi soldiers with Kalishnikov Ak-47's aimed true, is witty enough to say, 'You call that a gun; this is a Gun,' before unleashing 1,000,000 rounds of white hot hell.
If America buys Metal Storms, I'll be happy to pay my taxes.