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I think that "Metal Storm" is an answer to a question that was never asked. And from looking at the web site and downloading all the videos, I think that the main purpose of this system is to put money in the pocket of the "inventor", not that that is a bad thing. The problem I have is that the demonstrations mostly show multiple barrel weapons firing single shots out of each barrel at high rates until all the barrels have fired. No barrel fires more than one round.

In the video of a single barrel firing three rounds, it is on a test bed and looks very rudimentary. I think most of this is pure hype.

RLK:

I have the same question. In small arms...what's the point ? Imagine tripping and sticking your barrel(s) in the mud...or in this case, four barrels...no chance of running a cleaning rod through due to the barrels being jammed up with "rounds".

McGavin999:

Which video ? I didn't see one that executes a re-load...I would be interested in seeing how this is accomplished.

I realize I am being very skeptical of this technology but I feel this is a solution looking for a problem.

True. Of course in a day of bows and arrows, the same could have been said about the first single-shot firearms.

In small caliber I don't understand what this thing would be used for. I can't see how it would be better than existing systems. I can't see how ammunition would be fed to service it.

It's not *better,* it's different. Think of it as a Roman candle, with multiple charges and projectiles stacked in the barrel, ready to be fired electronically in sequence. And there are likely ways of developing it as a recoilless system, as per the Burney gun, the WWII and Korean-era recoilless rifles, and the current German *Armbrust* Light antitank weapon.

Rather than a replacement for long-range artillery with 25-40-mile ranges, a large caliber variant *might* be able to replace or augment the mortar and its ammunition, offering a preloaded multishot launch tube, disposed of after use. As for the practicality of a preloaded weapon whose launcher/barrel is discarded after use, any grunt who's used a M72A2 LAW [L/ight A/ntitank W/eapon] rocket launcher is familiar with the concept.

Most likely immediate uses? a replacement for land mines, as a possible successor to the M18A1 Claymnore mine, essentially an explosive shotgun mine. And a very likely application for fitting aboard tanks to discourage unfriendly visitors from climbing on them while they're buttoned up, obviating the need for a nearby vehicle to *scratch my back* with co-axial machinegun fire, which can be hard on the recipient vehicle's optics, antennas, and externally stowed OVM. The likelihood that something along the line of Metalstorm could be used by combat vehicles as a sort of continuous Claymore against incoming wire-guided antitank projectiles is another happy thought, similar to the use of the MK 15 Phalanx CIWS against Harpoon/Silkworm/Exocet/other ski-skimming missiles, as an improvement over the externally mounted white phosphorous and grenade launchers now used for that purpose is another needed near-future likely application.

A replacement for traditional artillery or small arms? Not in this decade, likely not in the next. But someday, maybe. And for now, an augmentation to those other systems. -archy-/-