[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.

[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.