A high speed photograph of a 40mm projectile emerging during tests of the revolutionary firing mechanism
Hailed as a revolution in weaponry, Metal Storm's firing mechanism is initiated electronically rather than by the traditional percussion method. It has almost no recoil and no moving parts, meaning that stoppages are less common than in normal firearms.
So is this a form of railgun? I guess not--I'm assuming that the innovation is in the firing mechanism only, and the bullets still use gas propulsion.
The company claims the technology can be applied to almost any calibre of weapon. Much of the project is secret, but it is believed that hand-held or remote-controlled weapons would be powered by long-lasting battery packs.
Hrm, a technological advancement, but... we don't have limtless energy, so is this innovation really necessary?
1 comment:
Metal Storm uses conventional explosives... it's not a railgun. The innovation is that there are no moving parts -- faster response, lighter weight, less stuff to break -- and also that multiple rounds can be stacked in the barrel, allowing many rounds per minute to be fired. It also means that the cartridges, magazine, and loading mechanism is gone, cutting down weight even more -- no receiver or any of that, it's just a tube with some electronics.
The primary application cited is CIWS. More metal in the air means a higher chance of taking out an incoming missile. An interesting technique they mentioned was having barrels pointing out from the weapon's main axis, so that rounds can be fired before the weapon''s axis is brought to bear.
I didn't see anything about low recoil -- it's not like it's a recoilless rifle (though it could be, but you'd lose the stacked ammo). As a matter of fact, recoil management has been cited as a design obstacle in using in lightweight UCVs, with a possible solution of specialized avionics to compensate for the recoil.
The applications are definitely worth the effort. Offhand, I could think of several revolutionary applications.
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