Chinese soldiers during a military parade in Beijing
Chinese engineers are building a machine gun with the ambition to achieve a rapid fire speed many times faster than the current maximum speed, according to the newspaper. South China Morning Post reported on January 4.
This weapon has 5 or more barrels, each capable of firing bullets at a speed of 450,000 rounds/minute, with the expectation of being able to intercept hypersonic missiles moving at speeds exceeding Mach 7 (8,575 km/min). hour). The current rate of fire of the US military’s Phalanx system is 4,500 rounds/minute.
Reloading a weapon that fires millions of rounds per minute was considered an insurmountable challenge.
However, Chinese researchers in Taiyuan, an industrial center in central China, have come up with a solution: a magazine filled with gun barrels, each barrel filled with bullets. After the bullet is fired, the barrels and the entire case are replaced.
This box alternate firing technology can “improve the reloading speed, avoid the loss of durability and accuracy of the gun barrel due to multiple reloading, and achieve the combat goal of multiple attacks and operations.” continuous action and quick counterattack,” according to the research team led by expert Lo Tu Thao at North China University.
Traditional machine guns use mechanical triggers, and they cannot meet the People’s Liberation Army’s (PLA) need to fire 7,500 rounds per second. To solve this problem, Mr. Lo and his colleagues developed an electronic trigger.
This type of non-contact electronic trigger can instantly melt the alloy wire in the bullet, creating a high-energy stream that ignites the explosive. This electronic trigger has a firing time of only 17.5 microseconds. Test data confirms that it is “sufficient to achieve the target performance of 450,000 rounds per minute per barrel,” according to the team.
This weapon is also known as a “metal storm” and was first proposed by Australian inventor Mike O’Dwyer in the 1990s. This expert founded the Metal Storm Company, producing 36 experimental systems. barrel, reaching a firing rate of 1 million rounds per minute.
In 2006, Mr. O’Dwyer said the PLA approached and offered to buy the technology for $100 million. The US Department of Defense also paid attention and coordinated with Mr. O’Dwyer to develop a new weapon system. However, the project was eventually canceled due to technical and other challenges. Metal Storm Company declared bankruptcy in 2012.
China continues to invest in this technology, mobilizing national science and technology resources for research and development.
