Nuclear lab brings out the big guns

CNN ^ | February 3, 2006 | Unknown

[goarmy]

LIVERMORE, California (AP) -- Officials at the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory have added a new weapon to their armory: a high-powered machine gun that can fire more than 50 rounds per second.

The weapon, unveiled Thursday, is a six-barrel Gatling gun called the Dillon Aero M134D. An undisclosed number of the guns will be mounted on vehicles and elsewhere at the lab.

"What we want to do is equip our protective force with the capability that will leave no doubt about the outcome," said Linton Brooks, head of the National Nuclear Security Administration.

Lab critics questioned the wisdom of putting such powerful guns at the lab, which is across the street from suburban homes. They say the real problem is that the lab site, which is relatively small at 1 square mile, is not a good place for nuclear materials.

-snip-

The 8,000-employee lab is 50 miles east of San Francisco.

[goarmy]

Here are the specs of the Dillon Aero M134D:

http://www.aasias.com/dillon_aerospec.htm

"What we want to do is equip our protective force with the capability that will leave no doubt about the outcome..."

AMEN, BROTHER.

[kingu]

Ghads, you know those critics are liberals. They see a problem with nuclear materials being on a site that is one square mile in size. They don't see the problem with homes built across the street from it (ok, big street, and there's a slope, IIRC, but still..)

Sounds like they're taking security seriously. Hopefully someone there will also spend a couple hundred dollars putting up flyers at the local colleges reminding students there that they really don't want to look like swiss cheese, so please, no pranks at the lab, thank you very much.

[goarmy]

Sorry about the broken link...

http://www.aasias.com/dillon_aerospec.htm

[bwteim]

Also

http://dillonaero.com/

and

http://dillonaero.com/gallery.html

[hang 'em]

You know the rules...

[LIConFem]

Ol' Painless.

[ruschpa]

I'm assuming the military has access to this gun as well, right?
I wonder if this can be put on top of a humvee.

[JustAnotherOkie]

[butternut_squash_bisque]

Anyone know what the rate of fire of the mini-vulcan guns on the A-10 or C-130 is?

[IronJack]

Now THAT is a pretty weapon!

[GSlob]

Wouldn't the fluted [or with cooling fins] barrels be better? At 9-10 shots per barrel per second the system would be heating in no time.

[goarmy]

I did this once while standing outside in some snow.

Great photo (nearly crashed my PC).

[Nathan Zachary]

So, if the entire Chinese army came flooding across the border all at once, a couple of these will handle the situation without running out of bullets, right? Assuming of course they are making a ammo feed belt with a million continuous rounds.

[JustAnotherOkie]

Well, after a few burst's there would be such a pile of Chinamen we would have plenty of time to reload while they were climbing over the attritted.

[JustAnotherOkie]

Where do you slide on the scope?

[MineralMan]

"Great photo (nearly crashed my PC).
"

I'm just curious. Why would that photo nearly crash your PC? What are you running?

[ZULU]

"If you don't have the firepower, that's one kind of security weakness, but if you do have the firepower, you potentially endanger nearby workers and community members because it's such a compact site," said Marylia Kelley, executive director of Tri-Valley CARES, a Livermore-based activist group."

If you don't like the neighborhood, DON'T MOVE THERE!

(I wonder if the gatlings can reach S@n F@gsisco?)

[Tallguy]

What's that little red-thingy do between the hand grips?

[Tallguy]

Well, after a few burst's there would be such a pile of Chinamen we would have plenty of time to reload while they were climbing over the attritted.

Not to mention the mountain of hot, spent shell casings after the gun was displaced to a secondary defensive pos.

[vikk]

A safety