22 Apr 2006

DREAD Weapon System

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Interesting. The designer apparently was prevously an engineer for Barrett. Sounds pretty cool, if it actually works, but none of this material notes that this is strictly a vehicular-carried weapon.

Imagine a gun with no recoil, no sound, no heat, no gunpowder, no visible firing signature (muzzle flash), and no stoppages or jams of any kind. Now imagine that this gun could fire .308 caliber and .50 caliber metal projectiles accurately at up to 8,000 fps (feet-per-second), featured an infinitely variable/programmable cyclic rate-of-fire (as high as 120,000 rounds-per-minute), and were capable of laying down a 360-degree field of fire. What if you could mount this weapon on any military Humvee (HMMWV), any helicopter/gunship, any armored personnel carrier (APC), and any other vehicle for which the technology were applicable?

That would really be something, wouldn’t it? Some of you might be wondering, “how big would it be”, or “how much would it weigh”? Others might want to know what it’s ammunition capacity would be. These are all good questions, assuming of course that a weapon like this were actually possible.

According to its inventor, not only is it possible, it’s already happened. An updated version of the weapon will be available soon. It will arrive in the form of a tactically-configured pre-production anti-personnel weapon firing .308 caliber projectiles (accurately) at 2,500-3000 fps, at a variable/programmable cyclic rate of 5,000-120,000 rpm (rounds-per-minute). The weapon’s designer/inventor has informed DefRev that future versions of the weapon will be capable of achieving projectile velocities in the 5,000-8,000 fps range with no difficulty. The technology already exists.

The weapon itself is called the DREAD, or Multiple Projectile Delivery System (MPDS), and it may just be the most revolutionary infantry weapon system concept that DefenseReview has EVER come across.

The DREAD Weapon System is the brainchild of weapons designer/inventor Charles St. George. It will be 40 inches long, 32 inches wide, and 3 inches high (20 inches high with the pintel swivel mount). It will be comprised of only 30 component parts, and will have an empty weight of only 28 pounds. That’s right, 28 pounds. The weapon will be capable of rotating 360 degrees and enjoy the same elevation and declination capabilities of any conventional vehicle-mounted gun/weapon.

The first generation DREAD (production version), derived from the tactically-configured pre-production weapon, will most likely be a ground vehicle-mounted anti-personnel weapon. Military Humvees (HMMWV’s) and other ground vehicles (including Chevy Suburbans) equipped with the DREAD will enjoy magazine capacities of at least 50,000 rounds of .308 Cal., or 10,000 rounds of .50 Cal. ammo.

But, what is the DREAD, really? How does it work? In a sentence, the DREAD is an electrically-powered centrifuge weapon, or centrifuge “gun”. So, instead of using self-contained cartridges containing powdered propellant (gunpowder), the DREAD’s ammunition will be .308 and .50 caliber round metal balls (steel, tungsten, tungsten carbide, ceramic-coated tungsten, etc…) that will be literally spun out of the weapon at speeds as high as 8000 fps (give or take a few hundred feet-per-second) at rather extreme rpm’s, striking their targets with overwhelming and devastating firepower. We’re talking about total target saturation, here. All this, of course, makes the DREAD revolutionary in the literal sense, as well as the conceptual one.

video –Be patient, it takes over a minute to download.

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2 Feedbacks on "DREAD Weapon System"

Collier Hageman

I have been hearing about this weapon system since 2005 and am still waiting for an actual, working prototype to be unveiled. Its a great idea, and offers a lot of potential, but I’ll believe it when I see it. So far, it’s much ado about NOTHING.



Chuckles

I first heard of this weapon ’round about 2005 and have been wondering about its development lately. It seems to have disappeared from popular attention. (Finally remembered to Google it again!) After reviewing some of the criticism by supposed “engineer types”, it’s apparent that many “debunkers” have based their arguments on their own false assumptions about the device, particularly regarding how it works.

Have these “engineers” never heard of David’s sling? How much “recoil” did David get from that, just before he imbedded a stone–from a distance–deep into the skull of Goliath?

But that doesn’t prove it’s not a hoax (albeit a plausible one). Still, from what I’ve seen, the technical arguments against it are very weak at best. (My background is electronics, so I’m not completely unfamiliar with the laws of physics, especially Newtonian Mechanics.)

I’m curious about the reasons for the lack of reporting about the weapon over the last few years. If not a hoax, it either proved unworkable practically, or it works so well that… could it have been “absorbed” into that thing Eisenhower spoke of on his way out of the White House? Hmmm…



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