Portable General Electric XM214 Minigun

The XM214 Automatic Gun (aka the Minigun) was developed for use mounted in and on helicopters and light aircraft. Like most G.E. Gatling gun type weapons it has six rotating barrels and the potential for a absolutely incredibly high rate of fire. It is electrically driven, and has a firing rate that can be adjusted from 1000 rpm all the way up to a unbelievable 10,000 rpm. In addition to that, it can be set to fire bursts from 30 to 1000 rounds. A real drawback to the higher rates of fire is off course the huge ammunition usage (166 shots per second) , and the power requirements, because firing it at full power it requires some 3.2 hp to drive the barrel assembly.

First seen in the movie "Predator" in 1987, the hand-held Minigun has captured the harts and minds of He-Men everywhere, be it in games or in real life. The very image of Jesse Ventura as Blain, spraying bad guys with a veritable hail of bullets that issued forth from his Minigun Painless was so powerful that the weapon has been seen in both countless other movies and in games.

Even in real life the idea caught on surprisingly well. Apparently some of America`s Special Forces guys saw Predator and realized that a hand-held Minigun would be a great asset for clearing out landing zones real fast. Having ample access to the needed equipment, they started experimenting. And ran into some problems.

The first was that the Minigun weighed in at thirty pounds, which was heavy, but carriable. A backpack with a thousand rounds of ammunition and a linkless belt to the Minigun weighed in at another thirty-five pounds. Backpacks with two thousand rounds weighed in at sixty-five pounds, and were totally unrealistic in size. Just the gun and the ammo weighed in at sixty-five pounds.

The second was that in the movie, the power for the Minigun had been supplied by a pair of truck batteries through a cable that simply ran over the ground, and up into the Minigun. Since those batteries weighed some 30 pounds each, it was obvious that only one could be carried by one person (in addition to all the other equipment the soldier was to carry). Thus, the weapon could never be fired at its full rate of fire.

The third problem was that even at "only" a 1000 rpm rate of fire the gun produces about 11 kg of recoil continuously! And this amount of force increases geometrically in proportion to the rate of fire. Firing a large burst would result in the gunner being spun around by his own weapon, and spraying everything around him indiscriminately with bullets. Including his own comrades.....

After some experimenting it was thus realized that the gun would simply be too heavy and cumbersome to be ever used in real life combat, and the concept was abandoned. No army in the world has a hand-held Minigun in its arsenal.

But, this was for real life. In games, where the gun-toting heroes all have physiques like Jesse Ventura and regularly mow down armies of enemies, a portable Minigun might be feasable. If we take into account that in recent years some manufacturers have made NiCad battery belts for use with Video cameras which weigh much less than truck batteries and can supply enough power to fire a thousand rounds at a firing rate of roughly 2,100 rpm before being empty, the weight problem is slightly allieved. Such a belt will weigh in at around six to eight pounds, as opposed to the sixty pounds for the old Truck batteries. It should be noted that such a battery belt would be completely discharged after firing a thousand rounds, and will require some three to four hours of recharging.

With the weight of the weapon, ammunition, and power supply down to around seventy two pounds, the player gets a weapon which will fire a thousand rounds in less than thirty seconds, is large and ungainly, and is guaranteed to scare the crap out of anyone he points it at.

So…here are my questions:

1. Would it be possible to use one of these as a gun in real combat environment and if so how?
   
2. What changes could be made to the gun to make it a lower weight, remove the recoil and compensate for power distribution?
   
3. Would this be an effective weapon in combat? What would be the good and bad points of it?
   
4. What similar guns to this are already in service? If any.
   
5. With the advancements of power, combat suits, exoskeletons, etc - could this compensate for the problems that the minigun causes?
   

Thanks to Kitsune where I took the article from (Edited it though.) and Monty's Miniguns.

[edit on 5-3-2005 by Odium]

Dont the Chinese have a 2 man portable 3 barrle .50cal gun? Sure I saw a pic of one somewhere..

For those who still use the Imperial system 11kg recoil = 24 pounds, one hell of a lot, this I think would have to be the first thing addressed either through an exo-skeleton or actually reducing the recoil. The latter being more practical you'd have to do one of a few things, reduce bullet mass, reduce bullet velocity or make it a "recoiless" design. Also to make it useful in the field we need a longer fireing time, either more bullets or lower RPM. The problem we run into is that it wouldn't take much reduction in capability to bring it into range of small-arms capability. It is after all a pretty light weapon in comparison to the bigger guns that could be used in those roles 20mm, 30mm in recoiless forms(I think that it's out there but might be wrong here). I think the most effective solution would be taking down the rpm to 750 or so, the caliber down to 12mm(from 12.7mm) and the velocity down somewhat. While it would be less powerful then the full-blown minigun it would still be enough to make a signifigant impact on the battlefield.
I'd still prefer this though, world.guns.ru...
Can penetrate both walls of any modern APC with its 15.2mm

bleex.me.berkeley.edu...

What about this to compensate for the weight? Although at the moment it is only in the product stages, it says it can make a “70lbs pack weight as little as 5lbs”, this would give room for the weight of the gun, ammunition, batteries and a little extra.

Does anyone know if it’d be possible to design some form of shock absorbing system onto the gun or a way to lower the recoil? I also though of lowering the ammunition size, I was thinking maybe lower then 12mm as with the rate of fire and muzzle velocity it’d still ‘pack a punch’, with only a low calibre but make it the ’MP’ type of ammunition: www.biggerhammer.net...

It would have the ’kill’ effect of this weapon, with a lower calibre and less recoil?

Anyone got an idea on how to lower the weight of the gun? A system that could help us to power it? And any other ways to lower recoil?

The first thing that comes to mind for reducing recoil would be muzzle brakes, but it would quickly deafen any one behind the firing point without adequate ear protection (last week I forgot to put my ear defenders on and I can tell you one shot is bad enough).

Also I don't think lowering the weight is the best option as lower wieght = higher recoil.

As for the lower calibre, lowering to 7.62 or possibly 5.56 would help significantly.

O.K. so maybe we should scrap the lowering of the weight then, as the ‘exoskeleton’, could help compensate for the load of the gun.

But, we still have a problem for battery power. I need some help on that front.

“Recoilless rifles exhaust gas to the rear, balancing the recoil. They are used as light anti-tank weapons.” would it be possible to make it similar to this?

As for lowering the ammunition, I agree with that 5.56 would still do enough damage. Anyone got an idea on how much say 4000, 5.56bullets would weight?

In belt form;
4000 5.56mm would weigh 40kg
4000 7.62mm would weigh 120kg
4000 12.7mm would weigh 495kg!

I think from these numbers, it would have to be 5.56mm.

I got the figures from www.pmulcahy.com...
if anyone wants to try other rounds, but due to convinence it would be wise to use rounds the military is using now

For my point of view, it's got to be 5.56mm. You need a common ammunition source if you're gonna use this monster in a 'manpack' role. (Too many ammunition variations in the field tend to cause problems in the supply chain) 5.56mm is the best bet and with SA80s and M16s around a plenty, not to mention Minimis, there is a plentiful supply of ammo all round.

The only problem that I can forsee, is the typical loadout. Would you have the standard 4 ball to 1 tracer or a ratio of 3 to 1 or even 1 to 1? With such a high rate of fire and massive amounts of recoil, the weapon would be spraying rounds all over the place and you'd need to 'see' where the fall of shot was. Also what rate of fire is more practicable' for the 'manpack' role?
It would have to be slow enough to conserve ammo in a meeting engagement but fast enough to overwhelm the enemy in a firefight.

I like the idea of operating the minigun like a recoilless weapon. Could the weapon be designed to be fired from the hip, with exhaust gases being passed to the rear through venturi or could the exhaust gases be used in some way to power the weapon or even damp down the recoil in some way?

At present the LSW/Minimi/SAW provides up to 80% of a squad or platoon's firepower. If this minigun was adapted [even if crew served] for ground role, it would provide up to 90-95% of the formation's firepower. What happens if it gets a stoppage right in the middle of things? The sudden loss of volumn of fire could be catastrophic and would allow the enemy to regain the iniative.

So, 40kg is what 90lbs roughly?

So we might have to lower that to say 2000rounds? That would give the over all weight of 45lbs for ammunition + 25lbs from the gun giving 70lbs. With the BLEEX system this would make it feel as though he’s carrying 5lbs. So, with the battery it would feel as though he’s carrying what 45lbs? Still a lot less then a normal pack + the weapon they’d be using.

But, I still need to find a battery that could power it for long enough.

As for the tracer round, you can set a GAU-17-A Minigun to do 30round bursts. So, I was thinking make it 1/3 (One tracer, for every three shots) and down to thirty round bursts. This would make it do a lot of damage, able to re-aim the weapon (because of the recoil) and able to see where it’s firing.

As for it jamming, blocking, etc, the team would have to compensate for them loosing their heavy gunner like they would if the SAW, etc blocked.

The rate of fire, would have to be low. Either 30shot burst, or have it on the lowest rate of fire (166bullets a second) if it went fully automatic. Of course, whoever was using it would not be able to carry any ‘kit’ but this weapon could rip through enemy units and infantry, quickly and easily. If it works.

could the exhaust gases be used in some way to power the weapon or even damp down the recoil in some way?

As far as I know, the electric power loads, fires and ejects the round even if it does not fire. With a gas loaded fully auto, or semi auto for that matter, each misfire the shooter must recock the gun to eject the dud and prime a new round before firing can restart.
So even if there are say 20 dud rounds in the belt, the electric system would just eject them and carry on shooting possibly without much notice to the firer, certainly not the enemy.
So for the six barrels you'd have to have six cocking handles which would sort of screw things up having more things to go wrong.

I doubt that the minigun will ever be portable due to the simple uestion of ammunition. The logistical problem of carriying all of the parts necessary to maintain and operate such a weapon should mean that they wll most likely remain vehicle mounted.

Ruled By Secrecy, thank you for that input.

From what he has said, it would make gas blowback not possible.

Does anyone have any idea on how we could power this? What sort of new light weight batteries could give a good constant power to this for more then 30minutes?

I'd suggest this: Make it a two-man team with one guy tight behind the first guy, Bosnia/SWAT style. The rear guy carries 2000 rounds in his backpack and also carries an MP-5 or something like that which he can fire over his buddy's shoulder or laterally if needed. The rear guy braces himself against the back of the lead man who holds the minigun.

Now as for the gun, you can't hold it to the side like in Predator due to rotational torque, so the answer is to have it braced against the center of the shooter's chest with two grip handles on either side. With the support (and covering fire) of his ammo guy behind him, the gun operator can resist the rearward push of the weapon.

Also, there seems to be little reason for the barrels to be this long. Suitable for aircraft, but for ground-fire you could easily shorten those barrels by half. There's another mingun not made by GE that's like this. It's smaller and more compact.

[edit on 8-3-2005 by smallpeeps]

Originally posted by smallpeeps

Also, there seems to be little reason for the barrels to be this long. Suitable for aircraft, but for ground-fire you could easily shorten those barrels by half. There's another mingun not made by GE that's like this. It's smaller and more compact.

[edit on 8-3-2005 by smallpeeps]

Good idea on the barrel length.

Any idea of the name of the other gun? I've heard of it before, but never seen it.

If you went with 5.56 ammo it would also cut down on the weight of the gun and power needs to run it.


The average weight of a 12.7 single barrel weapon is 10-18kg

An m-16 weights 5.7kg so if a normal mini weighs 12kg then if you used 5.56 barrels and a smaller motor and smaller operating parts. You should be able to cut down the weight to 6-10kg. Replace all parts that are steel besides barrels with titanium. 60% less weight same strength.

A few other ways to lessen the weight would be shorten the barrels. This would not be a long range weapon anyways.

As for recoil there is a type of silencer that has domes in side it with holes along the edge going back like a barrel brake. It can be fired wet or dry cuts sound by 26-40 decibels. It also cuts recoil in 25 to 50%.


As for fire rate I would have it variable in some cases you really don't want a 30 round burst. I would say 6 round burst, 30 rounds burst, low rpm full auto 300 rounds a min. Then med speed full auto 600-800 rounds a min. Then high speed full auto.


As of right now the average service man carries 85lb with him all the time. This would not be a jungle weapon more of a city fighter. Where the men don't need days of food and water. So if we can get it to 17lb with 5.56 ammo 2000 rounds of ammo would be around 27lb power 8 to 12lb. So for a total of 52 to 56lb for the weapon alone. Now armor and water food. Water 3/4 of a gallon of water with camlbak 7.27lb. Kevlar helm 3lb, interceptor body armor 16.5lb. Clothing and boots another 10lb. radio 1lb. ration 1.5 lb.

For a total weight of 91.27lb just 6 pounds over a normal long patrol trooper. Anything else the trooper might need would have to be carried by other members of the team. Extra ammo could also be carried by one of the men using the m-16 without the m203 on it.

Would also need to be able to air drop in extra ammo if needed. Ether by plane or chopper. They have gps guided supply drops now so they could land them within 3 feet of the guy with the gun if the really wanted to. I would also have a carbon fiber bipod for the front of the gun so it could be rested on wall and such for firing.


[edit on 9-3-2005 by shadarlocoth]

Odium: Worthwhile discussion btw..

Long post, but please read...

So…here are my questions:

1. Would it be possible to use one of these as a gun in real combat environment and if so how?

2. What changes could be made to the gun to make it a lower weight, remove the recoil and compensate for power distribution?

3. Would this be an effective weapon in combat? What would be the good and bad points of it?

4. What similar guns to this are already in service? If any.

With the advancements of power, combat suits, exoskeletons, etc - could this compensate for the problems that the minigun causes?

OK to answer you questions... Considering that if handheld Miniguns ever make it on to the battlefield, this weapon would most likely be used for Spport or as a Squad Heavy SAW.

1:

First off, assuming you actually manage somehow to make an efficient hand-held minigun that can be used on the battlefield, this weapon would be very difficult to employ. A man carrying such a weapon would be an obvious target, and the gun and all necessary gear would be very cumbersome, and therefore a Minigun team would have to be effectively used only in CQB with plenty of support and cover, and would have to have ample protection on it's flanks, as any man carrying it would be easy to outflank and ambush. Considering the recoil, range, and overall technical difficulties associated with the weapon, the only use such a team would have is CQB. It would handy for clearing rooms, buildings, M.O.U.T (military operations in urban terrain), defending positions and such. In the open, across long distances, or any combat situation were it's likely to turn into an assault operation would not be ideal for such a weapon simply because its so vunerable, and would easily be noticed and targeted by OPFOR (opposing forces), and extremely heavy and cumbersome to displace and set up all over the place. Also, operations at night-time wouldn't be a good idea, because the team would now be even more vunerable and aiming and hitting targets would become harder, and the team would have to have excellent communication with the squad to ensure aquadete support and cover. I see this weapon being effective however, in defense scenarios, where possibly strategic postions are being overrun, or CQB, especially in building, rooms, etc. Anything to do with CQB, Urban Combat would be an ideal area to use this weapon, but it can only be effective if well-supported, covered, protected, and has aquadete supplies on-hand to maintain such a weapon in the field. Also, it would be designed to be a quick-use weapon, (get in, take your shot , get out), as sustained attacks and prolonged battle probably wouldn't be possible due to ammo and power requirements, so it would have to be a short-use weapon. It's high rate of fire and immobility also make it ideal to be placed in a defensive turret or bunker or a protected, fixed position, as this could make maintaining the weapon alot easier and it wouldn't have to be dragged around everywhere, and it could reduce recoil and could be used to defend strategic points, AA Defense, etc. (You don't expect this weapon to be used in a Predator situation where one guy runs around with a Minigun tearing down everything! :lol

2:

It would be very hard to be able to refine and atler such a weapon to be effectively used, hand-held on a battlefield. This weapon was originally designed for helicopters (later on vehicles), where it's fired from a fixed postion, has plenty of cover and support, easy to arm and maintain and very mobile. The main problem with the Minigun is ammunition and power supplies. Keep in mind this thing eats lead at an insane rate, 166 bullets a second=approx. 9960 bullets a minute ! Even if a soldier could carry 2000 rounds around with him, this would last for about 10 seconds of fire. The tremendous amount of ammo required means the ammunition has to be scaled down. 5.56mm is preferable and common, but still even this would be very heavy to lug around 2000 bullets. Perhaps making some sort of lightweight ammunition specially designed for such a role could be helpful or perhaps scaling it down ever further, although reducing firepower (even 9960, 9mm rounds per minute at that velocity would do a heck of a lot of damage to anything), would be the ideal way to go. I've heard of an Ultra-Lightweight ammunition concept to make 4.44mm ammunition that made entirely out of magnesium, titantium, and a graphite alloy, designed for extremely mobile troop divisions. The ammunition would need to also be stored conveniently somehow, a backpack would not be very smart, and would put alot of weight and strain on the user, and one man couldn't carry all the ammunition. I like the idea of having a two man team with someone being the reloader/spotter who carries the ammunition is very suitable, and this would be much more effective than the "one-man army" idea. Perhaps even having the firer carry some ammunition while the reload/spotter carries the rest would be even better.

Also, the gun's design would also need to be reviewed. Mainly, the Minigun itself could be made much more compact and lightweight by shortening the barrels, replacing most of metal parts of the gun with lightweight alloys or other metals, and maybe reducing the number of barrels and the type of motor. The gun itself is very heavy, and by reducing the barrel you could significantly reduce weight, as alot of steel and special hardened metal is placed inside the barrel to stop the lining from wearing out and so the gun doesn't need to be rebored as much. Although it might reduce accuaracy, and make overheating a problem, reducing the barrels is the first step in reducing weight. Secondly the gun itself is made mostly of tensile steel, rust-proof alloys inside the firing chamber, hardened steel for the barrels and mostly galvanised alluminium and such for the motor components and gears and so on. All of these parts could be replaced with much lighter metals, titanium, magnesium, graphite alloys, and other lightweight metals. Also the motor itself, since it is being used on the field could be scaled down to produce less energy to fire at a lower RPM, or even be carried by the user on their back, to make the gun a bit more mobile. The only problem now is power supply, normally Miniguns mounted on vehicles and helicopters draw power from the vehicles main engines to power a turbine or generator or something like that for the Minigun itself. Otherwise they have large battery-packs and so on. In the field the only possible solution (unless you want to drag around a generator along the with the gun ) is to use some sort of high-power battery pack designed to be used in high-drain devices. A real drawback to the higher rates of fire is of course the huge ammunition usage (166 rounds per second) , and the power requirements, because firing it at full power it requires some 3.2 hp to drive the barrel assembly and consumes alot of power with each minute. Lithium-Ion battery packs would have to be pretty large to provide enough power to the motor, but could mounted on the user's waist in the form of a belt battery pack, or on their back. This would still be very heavy and wouldn't provide enough energy to last in sustained attacks. Perhaps, in the two-man team idea, the second man could carry another batterypack connected to the Minigun as well as to provide a small amount of extra power. I don't see small generators or anything like that being sensible or feasible in the field.

As for recoil, a gun like this, as mentioned before produces 11kg of recoil every second, and and this amount of force increases geometrically in proportion to the rate of fire, so firing at large bursts, standing still would result in the gunner being spun around by his own weapon or being knocked right off his feet, and in either case firing randomly everywhere. To counter the recoil by weight, the counter-shot would need to be the ammunition or the weight of the weapon itself, and since this would increase the overall weight drastically and is plain stupid, a recoil-absorption device is probably the way to go. They have such devices for shotguns and machineguns, its simply a shock-absorbing coil and a bunch of other counter-recoil devices, hammers, fire-chamber stabilisers, etc. The whole contraption is inside a case which is mounted directly on the gun and connected to the firing chamber and barrel. Every time the gun fires, some of the shock and recoil is absorbed by the device, although, depending on the type of weapon, as much 90% of recoil can be absorbed or as little as 5%. It would be hard to design such a device for a Minigun since it has multiple barrels, and a complex firing chamber, and would only add to the overall weight, so the recoil issue is a tough one to solve. However the extra weight could be compensated by less recoil, if you can manage to mount such a system onto a Minigun.

Finally, no other original weapon like the US Minigun exists, although alot of rip-offs do , and many simply have barely any difference. There are plenty of High-RPM assault rifles though, and many are useful, and more practical, in situations where a Minigun is required (just go to WorldGuns.ru, have a look at the assault rifles and check out some of the Austrian/German ones). Exoskeletons and Combat Suits are out of the question, the US Army has little interest in such devices for soldiers, and I believe a program was started a while back to look into the feasability of making "Man-Operated Robotic Combat Machines" but was cancelled. This is isn't Mechwarrior, and the point of such a machine is really needless considering armour and vehicles fill the job of heavy support well.

Lastly, hand-held Miniguns are just a dream in my opinion, no real need for them now (except for the fact they look cool ), and besides, vehicle and air mounted Miniguns perform their jobs exceptionally and don't encounter many of the problems associated with making a suitable hand-held Minigun for battlefield use. These weapons, from my knowledge, although powerful and deadly, are very limited (from a US Army point of view) in the fact that they can only be deployed by certain divisions, and lack the range and tactical superiority to be used against long-distance or heavily armoured targets. Miniguns are used mostly for overwhelming suppressive fire, to pin down OPFOR and to provide cover for friendlies. Even in the current Iraq War, Miniguns are seeing limited action in most of the CQB Urban Terrain because they're mainly mounted onto helicopters, and manuverability is difficult in Urban Terrain by air, and since most the Iraq War is pretty much M.O.U.T. Miniguns waste money and resources, and time being deployed and used in their roles, when things like SAW's, Vehicles, Explosives, Missiles and Bombs are far more effective. Minigun's do however, have better uses for Aircraft, Gunships, and Defensive Uses.

I just don't see the practicality, feasibility, and sense in adopting Miniguns for hand-held use, it's costly, cumbersome, vunerable and has limited use in the field, and the idea was started by a fictional movie ! If you see how hand-held Miniguns can greatly benefit the Army please tell me...

"GE (as it then was) offered a system they called the "Six-Pak" which was composed of a XM-214, two 500rd cassettes and a 24V 0.8hp NiCad power source. Battery charge was sufficient for 3,000rds. Total weight was 85lb (38.6kg) and could be moved as two equal loads. Weight of the XM214 alone is given as 27lb (12.25kg), although a more recent source says ca 10.5kg (23lb) -about the same as a GPMG."

I think it may be possible someday, but will not use conventional cartridges. But using a electro-magnetic discharge system similar to metalstorm will both keep the weight down and the recoil to a minimum. There is no way that you are going to be able to man pack even a 5.56 standard cartridge in a minigun application without the use of an exoskeleton. The rate of fire and total recoil force will snap bones or tear muscles at the least. Hell these things even break the isolation mounts on the choppers and their tensil treated steel and high grade mounting bolts, what do you think they would do to your bones.

But a 0 recoil system like metalstorm could make a man portable mini gun possible. You could even integrate the power source and ammunition into one compact unit so as you deplete the ammo as well as the energy source you just switch out the "pack" and are juiced back up and replenished with ammo.

Think about designing a large BB gun, using an airsoft mag source (6mm plastic BB's) and the hopper mechanics that allow a single bb to get loaded into the firing chamber and have the energized firing chamber/barrel then propelling the round (sounds similar to a rail gun. But metalstorm I beleive uses a charge system that is electronically fired almost like a solid toy rocket motor and the rounds and charges are stacked alternately within the barrel to get a high rate of fire, the electrical "fire" impulse runs down the conductive barrel setting of the charges milliseconds apart from one another so that each round is a fraction of inch apart (or smaller I think its like 10mm apart).

So you would have two clips one a charge pack and another a rounds and power pack. As the mini gun barrel rotated it would pick up a round then rotate over to the charge clip and get stuffed with a charge then when it rotated back to the round/power pack be fired a fraction of a millisecond before coming into line with the loader for the next round, the hot barrel will seal the next round being loaded and then the cycle would start over. Using a medium for the round that had a momentary molten state when fired out the barrel and presented with postive air pressure will cause the round to deform into the optimum projectile shape a nice tapered reverse tear drop with most of the mass (the bottom bell shape of the tear drop) flying forward. Just like the shaped shrapnel in a frag grenade. I think this would be a highly effective anti-personnel weapon/ soft target weapon.

Odium, no worries, interesting post
Just been reading up on the H&K G11
The range of that round is said to be 300m I belive and it's casless which would save weight of ammo carried meaning more ammo which is always good and there would be no need for ejecting cases, which might mean less power needed. I'm not sure about power saved from not ejecting cases, but worth considering?
The silencer/muzzle brake idea is good as it lowers recoil without deafening anyone behind it.

Yes, Metalstorm's 18-Barreled, fully electronic (no moving parts), recoiless Minigun is truely a breakthrough. (1 Million Rounds per Minute, you heard right !!!) They also make alot of other cool weaponary, everything from handguns that fire 3 bullets in 1/500th of second, to 16-barreled grenade launchers, pretty good for an Australian company !

Here's a link: (They also have some videos on their site, :up

www.cnn.com...

Their website is:

www.metalstorm.com...

Their technology is due to go into production soon in co-operation with the US Department of Defence, and I'm sure the US Army will get closer look at such technologically advanced weaponary and maybe they will consider the possibilties of using these weapons as hand-held in the field. Something like a recoiless Minigun will definately need to be developed to make this weapon suitable in the field, because the recoil is insane, and adds more problems to weight and practicality. Electro-Magnetic technology needs to be considered here... no point luggin' around 20kg of brute force if you can't aim it right...

[edit on 11/3/05 by The Godfather of Conspira]