Australia has led the way to deliver a new capability which offers an alternative to the anti-personnel mines used by Defence forces around the world.

Unlike a landmine, the Area Denial Weapon System is designed to protect large areas of ground with discrimination. The development of this technology reinforces Australia ’s commitment to the 1997 Ottawa Treaty Banning Anti-Personnel Land Mines.

The Defence Science and Technology Organisation led a consortium including Metal Storm and Nicopyrotechnik to create the capability, which will be used on operations to protect vital assets such as airfields and ships.

The technology integrates Metals Storm’s 40mm stacked projectiles into a multi-barrel pod system and links them with intrusion sensors and a fire control system. Each pod has the capability to fire up to 20 projectiles and operators can select a variety of combinations to control the rate of fire, barrel selection and firing sequence.

The business end of an ADWS pod, showing the four MK19 barrels pre-loaded with 5 Metal Storm 40m rounds. Picture courtesy of Metal Storm.

Using a communication-system based on Internet technology, the Area Denial Weapon System, it is feasible the technology could be located anywhere in the world. According to Defence Minister, Senator Robert Hill, it could be further developed to provide a type of remote-controlled weapons system that could be adapted to a number of Defence capabilities.

The Area Denial Weapons System is a successful outcome of the DSTO’s Capability and Technology Demonstrator Program. For more information on this program visit www.defence.gov.au/dsto

The lightweight aluminium tripod can be folded up to make transport of the pod easy. The size of the support base indicates the immense forces generated when the Metal Storm projectiles are launched at rates up to 3,000 rounds/minute.