China’s New Machine Gun: 100x More Powerful Than US Counterpart, Can Intercept Hypersonic Missiles

China’s New Machine Gun: Chinese engineers and scientists are working on what could be the most potent machine gun in history.

This weapon has five or more barrels, each capable of 450,000 minutes. Because of its unparalleled density, the resulting barrage can intercept hypersonic missiles flying faster than Mach 7.

By contrast, the most potent Phalanx system in the US military can only fire 4,500 rounds per minute at its maximum.

Refilling ammunition for a weapon that consumes millions of bullets per minute has been considered an insurmountable challenge.

It has been thought to be impossible to refill ammunition for a weapon that fires millions of shots every minute.

However, Chinese researchers in Taiyuan, a core Chinese industrial centre, have developed a clever solution: a magazine that resembles a container and is interchangeable, with barrels that are each loaded with bullets.

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The disposable barrels are just thrown away with the entire container after the rounds have been discharged.

This box-type rotary firing technology can "improve loading speed, reduce the decrease in barrel strength and accuracy due to repeated loading, and achieve the combat objectives of multiple strikes, continuous operations and rapid counter-attacks",the project team led by Lu Xutao, an associate professor of mechanical and electrical engineering with the North University of China, wrote in a peer-reviewed paper published in the Chinese Journal of Detection & Control in December.

The People's Liberation Army (PLA) demands 7,500 bullets per second, which traditional machine guns that use mechanical triggers cannot meet. Lu and his associates created a coil-based electronic trigger to address this issue.

In the 1990s, Australian inventor Mike O'Dwyer first devised this weapon, also referred to as the Metal Storm. O'Dwyer founded Metal Storm Inc., which manufactured a 36-barrel test system capable of firing one million rounds per minute.

O'Dwyer informed reporters in 2006 that the PLA approached him and made an offer of UScopy00 million for the technology.

After taking notice, the US Department of Defence collaborated with O'Dwyer to create new battlefield weapon systems. However, the project was eventually shelved due to technical and other challenges, and Metal Storm Inc. declared for bankruptcy in 2012.

The alloy wire that is imbedded in the bullet can be quickly melted by the contactless trigger, creating a high-energy metal jet that sets the explosive off. With a 17.5 microsecond firing time, this electronic trigger operates with previously unheard-of efficiency. Test data confirms that it "is sufficient to achieve the target performance of 450,000 rounds per minute per barrel", Lu's team wrote.

Through the mobilisation of its own scientific and technological resources for methodical research and development, China has persisted in investing in this technology.

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Publicly available Information indicates that some teams are concentrating on the incredibly complicated fundamental physics issues that arise when bullets stacked snugly in the barrel are fired successively.

While some groups are working to make throwaway barrels more affordable and reliable, others have created test rounds with sensors and circuits.

In recent years, these initiatives have advanced significantly. Lu is one of several scientists who now think that China's own Metal Storm weapon could outperform the Western prototype from ten years ago by at least ten times in terms of firing rate and find use in a variety of military applications.

In future wars, "the speeds of weapons such as missiles and aircraft will continue to increase", Lu said.

"Metal Storm weapons have already become essential equipment for defending territorial waters and airspace."

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