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Metal Storm Weapons
Metal Storm Weapons are a series of proposed (and prototype) weapons created by the Australian company Metal Storm Ltd. These weapons use superposed loads in a single barrel with electrochemical ignition, allowing for enormously high fire rates due to a lack of moving parts. While quoting a cyclic fire rate of any kind is slightly misleading (since these weapons have no action and therefore no cycle of function) their headline proof-of-concept demonstrator, a 36-barrel rig called "Bertha," fired 180 shots at a total fire rate of one million rounds per minute (ie, 5 shots from each barrel at ~27,777 RPM), making it the fastest-firing gun in existence. This rig had notable pressure problems due to firing while the preceding bullet was still inside the barrel, and was not a practical weapon system. The Metal Storm VLE pistol appears to have also essentially been a proof of concept demonstrator to show how much the technology could be miniaturised.
The technology's main shortcomings are reloading and varying ballistics; a Metal Storm weapon must have an entire pre-loaded barrel or barrel section replaced each time it is empty, and since the loads are stacked in the barrel, each successive projectile travels down a longer barrel and therefore has slightly different ballistics. This has largely limited practical applications of the technology to mortars and repeating grenade launchers where varying accuracy is not a major concern.
The technology does not seem to have been particularly successful; while Metal Storm produced a range of concepts and demonstrators, their largest contract appears to have been supplying 500 MAULs and 5,000 less-lethal barrels to Papua New Guinea for law enforcement use (it is not clear if these were delivered), and the company's shares were suspended in July 2012 and Metal Storm Ltd placed into voluntary administration. Their US-based subsidiary Metal Storm Inc filed for Chapter 7 bankruptcy in October 2014. Metal Storm's patents, intellectual property, trademarks and existing weapon prototypes were acquired in August 2015 by Australian defence R&D company DefendTex, which has stated it intends to market them under its existing brand.
Weapons using Metal Storm technology have been featured in the following video games and television series:
Metal Storm AICW
AICW was the Australian equivalent of the XM29 OICW program, pairing a 5.56mm KE module produced by Steyr and based on the Steyr AUG rifle series with a 3-round 40mm grenade launcher produced by Metal Storm. Though testing was successful, the project did not proceed further (most likely because at 22 pounds the loaded AICW was even heavier than the XM29), though Metal Storm did attempt to market a variant of the grenade launcher as the 3GL.
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory | Not usable | 2005 | ||
| Soldier of Fortune: Payback | Cut; only accessible with mods | 2007 |
Metal Storm VLE
The Metal Storm VLE or O'Dwyer VLE pistol was a proof-of-concept demonstrator showing the degree to which the technology could be miniaturised; several variants were produced, using either rear-inserted barrels or break-open frames, with the most common a render produced for the TV series Future Weapons showing a four-barrel version with two 9mm lethal barrels and two 15mm less-lethal barrels.
Television
| Show Title / Episode | Actor | Character | Notation | Air Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Future Weapons/Maximum Impact | Richard Machowicz | May 3, 2006 |
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Soldier of Fortune: Payback | ALX | 2007 |
Metal Storm Redback RWS
Redback was one of a series of 40mm implementations of Metal Storm technology in grenade launchers and mortars, where the variable per-shot accuracy would be less of a problem. The Redback system was a four-barrel remote weapon station designed to replace the Mk 19 grenade launcher on vehicles and drones.
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty: Black Ops II | Mounted on the "Assault Drone"; incorrectly functions as a machine gun instead of a grenade launcher | 2012 |
Metal Storm MAUL
MAUL (Multi-shot Accessory Underbarrel Launcher) is a Metal Storm-based semi-automatic accessory shotgun designed to compete with pump or bolt action accessory shotguns such as the Knight's Armament Masterkey and M26 MASS. It uses a front-loading 5-shot preloaded barrel, and can fire either standard slug or shot or less-lethal loads, though only one type of load can be used at a time due to the nature of the weapon.
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Call of Duty: Ghosts | "Bulldog" | w/ various attachments | In both standalone and underbarrel configurations | 2013 |
| Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare | "Bulldog" | w/ various attachments | Standalone only | 2014 |
Metal Storm 3GL
The 3GL is a 3-shot grenade launcher using Metal Storm technology.
Video Games
| Game Title | Appears as | Mods | Notation | Release Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arma 3 | 2013 |