Chinese intelligence agents tried to co-opt an Australia ballistics specialist who invented a high-speed gun that would provide China with a new advanced warfighting capability.
Brisbane-based Mike O’Dwyer invented the electronic firing mechanism, called Metal Storm.
High speed photograph of a 40mm projectile emerging from Metal Storm weapon.
www.MetalStorm.com
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“What I was expected to do in Beijing was to divulge all the knowledge I had to enable prototypes to be built for the weapons system to be developed,” he told Channel Nine television. “[They] said 'we don't need any Metal Storm weapons, we don't need any of the paperwork, the history — what we want is you. We want you and your family in Beijing.'”
The U.S. military is currently planning on purchasing the technology, according to the company that makes the firing mechanism.
The technology involves unique weaponry that fires bullets or grenades electronically rather than through a percussion method. It has almost no recoil and no moving parts and can fire rounds at an extremely high rate of fire.
China has been buying and stealing foreign technology to fuel its large-scale military buildup.
