Metal Storm
| Metal Storm Limited
|
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| legal form | Corporation |
| founding | 1994 / AG since 2006 |
| Seat | Brisbane (Australia) and Arlington (USA) |
| management | Terence O'Dwyer (Chairman), Lee Finniear (Managing Director and CEO ), Brett Farmer ( CFO ) as of 2010 |
| Number of employees | 27 (2009) |
| sales | 7.4 million |
| Branch | Weapons manufacturer |
| Website | www.metalstorm.com |
The company Metal Storm was an Australian company for the development and manufacture of electronic weapon system components. The headquarters was in Brisbane ( Australia ), with a branch office in Arlington ( United States ). The Metal Storm System is a new type of weapon system that can achieve extremely high rates of fire through a special type of ammunition feed, ammunition ignition and number of barrels.
On July 20, 2012, trading in company shares was suspended at the company's request. As a result, the company voluntarily submitted to external administration under Australian insolvency law ( voluntary administration ). The Australian arms company Defendtex has owned the trademark and commercial rights of use since 2015 .
How the Metal Storm System works
The system is based on the fact that the ammunition is not fed from a magazine or ammunition belt, as is usually the case , but lies in the barrel - like a Roman candle - (this principle has been known since the late Middle Ages, see Espignole ). Each projectile has its own propellant charge and is ignited electronically.
advantages
The various weapons systems in which the metal-Storm-system could be used according to the manufacturer ( assault rifles , pistols , grenade launcher , machine gun , defense and wax systems) possess (by the addition to the movably mounted runs recoil to dampen) no moving parts such as common firearms. They would therefore be less sensitive to wear and tear and require little maintenance. There is also no mechanism for ejecting the fired cartridges. The Metal Storm system uses caseless ammunition , which means that the propellant charge does not sit in a cartridge case , but freely in the barrel directly behind the projectile . The rate of fire ( cadence ) of the Metal Storm systems is initially only limited by the length of the barrel and the number of runs. This enables short bursts of fire with a very high theoretical rate of fire. As with conventional systems, the type of projectile can be adapted to the respective purpose (e.g. HE grenades , fragmentation grenades , irritant gas cartridges , non-lethal ammunition, etc.).
disadvantage
The system has numerous disadvantages: in particular, as in the case of tubular magazines, the magazine capacity is limited by the principle and can only be increased in practice by increasing the number of runs. But this also increases the weight considerably. In addition, expensive special ammunition is required.
Planned products
Shotgun MAUL
The MAUL system (Multi-shot Accessory Under-barrel Launcher) is a single- barreled , five-shot, semi-automatic shotgun in caliber 12 (18.35 mm) and 5.56 mm. It was developed for the military, but also for use by the police. It can be used as a single weapon or as an additional weapon under assault rifles (with mounting rail). The weight of the system is only 1.8 lbs. (816.45 grams). The ammunition can be adjusted depending on the situation.
3GL grenade pistol
The 3GL system is a portable, three-shot, semi-automatic grenade launcher in 40 mm caliber. The ammunition can be adapted to the situation. If required, the 3GL system can be mounted on a Picatinny rail under various assault rifles .
Web links
- Metal Storm 36 barrel prototype test firing on youtube.com (video)
- Taking Ballistics By Storm on scientificamerican.com
- Urban Firefighting Gets a Killer Edge at Popular Science
Individual evidence
- ^ A b Metal Storm Limited on hoovers.com
- ↑ ( page no longer available , search in web archives: hoovers.com )
- ↑ metalstorm.com ( Memento of August 13, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on August 8, 2009
- ↑ metalstorm.com ( Memento of August 10, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on August 8, 2009
- ↑ cf. z. B. Metal Storm up for sale theaustralian.com.au
- ↑ Defendtex Acquires MetalStorm Assets . ( Memento of January 16, 2016 in the Internet Archive ) defendtex.com, August 12, 2015; accessed on October 4, 2017
- ↑ a b c Here’s why this 36-barrel “Metal Storm” machine gun will never be used by the US Army . businessinsider.com
- ↑ metalstorm.com ( Memento of August 22, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on August 8, 2009
- ↑ metalstorm.com ( Memento of August 27, 2009 in the Internet Archive ) accessed on August 8, 2009