Rapid-fire Metal Storm technology usurps Crusader

Washington Times ^ | Tuesday, May 14, 2002 | By Arnaud de Borchgrave

[JohnHuang2]

A new type of ballistic technology that can fire more than 1 million rounds per minute from a 36-barrel weapon is one of the reasons Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld has canceled the $11 billion Crusader artillery system.

The technology is known as "Metal Storm," which is also the name of the Australian research and development company that owns it.

[JohnHuang2]

Tuesday, May 14, 2002

Quote of the Day by sinkspur 5/14/03

[wardaddy]

My little bro is hankering for a 50BMG or a Laupua .338. While researching those I came across the Metal Storm systems....I told him he ought to wait for one of those..LOL

Here is the link to their site. Interesting mpegs. Absolutely incredible weapons system. Scary....makes Puffs and AC-130s look tame...if that's possible.

[VaBthang4]

"Under development are systems that include an unmanned aerial combat vehicle that will carry twelve 40 mm mortar boxes comprising a total of 1,200 tubes, and armed with 7,200 grenades. The system's unprecedented firing capabilities can lay down a continuous 50-yard-wide carpet of grenades for two miles, firing all its grenades simultaneously with 5-yard separation on impact. Another gun under development for a small combat aerial vehicle is multibarreled and can fire 270 rounds onto a target in 0.001 seconds without stress on the airframe or any drop in air speed.

Screw the Crusader.

[lavaroise]

Hmmm, what about the Crusader's tactical nuke capabilities? I don't think metal storm can do that.

[Gianni]

Crusader definitely seems to have it's place - at least to me. The Crusader, combined with something like the EX-171 Excalibur could provide precision guided fire support at a much lower cost than flying F16's dropping JDAM's.

JDAM is a good example - it's cheaper to circumnavigate the globe in a B2 than it is to launch an equivalent load of Tomahawks. Crusader would be the next step in cost savings, a sationary fire-base that could hit anything in a 60 mile radius at a much lower cost. Drop one off and resupply it once a week. I would think it would pay itself off in fuel savings alone.

A great deal of money has been invested in air superiority, but the fact is that turning the skies black with attack aircraft is an expensive business to be in. The possibilities should at least be explored.

I'm not sure how Metalstorm technology enters the equation. Metalstorm is a 'volume over substance' system, an 'area weapon' if you will. Crusader's primary role would be precision fire.

[ko_kyi]

I'm not sure how Metalstorm technology enters the equation. Metalstorm is a 'volume over substance' system, an 'area weapon' if you will. Crusader's primary role would be precision fire.

Imagine going back in time to WWII and explaining that we need artillery for precision fire and special automatic rifles for area suppression :)

[BenR2]

My son is in the Army Reserves NOW.

I believe he would MUCH prefer to be supported by EXTANT Crusader pieces, rather than 'drawing board' high-tech weapons.

We need to keep the Crusader AND to develop new high-tech weapons.

As Chris Ruddy or NewsMax opined recently, we would need to up the annual DoD budget to more than $600 Billion to truly restore our military.

I think Bush lacks Reagan's laser-vision focus on the threats that this country faces. Case in point: Today's announcement that he is going to sign away two-thirds of this country's nuclear arsenal in a worthless treaty with the always-trustworthy Russians.