My view only. Not investment advice:1. Metal Storm technology is...

My view only. Not investment advice:

1. Metal Storm technology is genuinely a revolutionary and highly valuable defense capability.

2. As previously detailed, consistent with formal specific advice published earlier by this Board and Management, long before now we should have seen H.E. certification, strong product sales of Redback and 3GL, and strong revenues, sufficient to run the Company and also sufficient to expand the Company. But NONE of that has happened. Instead, the value of the technology has been absolutely gutted by the same team, as they have fiddled with the technology for almost as long as it took to get men on the moon. This while producing only cake-stall results, and progressively failing to meet critical objectives; while also repeatedly revising downwards the value of any expected outcome, yet requiring even more tens of millions of dollars to continue bumbling along.

Unbelievably, in the most recent CEO Bulletin there is no longer even any mention of recent critical priorities including Redback, Firestorm, Anti-RPG, 40mm H.E. development and certification, 3GL development and certification for H.E. shoulder firing, IED neutralization, UAV development, UGV evelopment, High Pressure 40mm development, or Robotic Development. Nothing whatsoever.

Expanding on 1 and 2.
Metal Storm technology provides otherwise unavailable and valuable battlefield capabilities. It is the only ballistic technology that (in almost all configurations) is 100% electronically operated, and which therefore directly plugs int� the operational capability growth of the rapidly emerging fully electronic battlefield.

One 40mm H.E. weapon system that properly takes advantage of the capabilities of the invention is a Metal Storm anti-personnel land mine alternative (APLA). A Metal Storm APLA delivers a controllable, repeatable, selectable-lethality capability which can be rapidly set in place, and equally rapidly removed, and with the major added benefit of coming equipped with remote on-off switching between automatic and manual control. At the same time, when required to fulfil the military objectives of land mines, it can impressively outperform conventional systems, channelling an enemy into a zone of truly staggering ferocity of overwhelming firepower.

Yet in this role it is a surprisingly compact weapon system relative to firepower, being truly modular, and capable of intelligent and redundant network connectability in which the ammunition box(s) is factually the weapon. With a 100% mechanical-free firing system, the ammunition box is clutter free, highly ammunition dense, while also providing for long term in-situ readiness with almost no maintenance.

The APLA concept and ammunition is relatively, simple, cheap, and quick to construct. A 40mm H.E. ABW (Ammunition Box Weapon) made for such an application is entirely free of the complex development of the apparently stalled and still forever-being-redeveloped and expensive individual 40mm H.E. round load/unload capability, the completion date for which is now apparently abandoned and unspecified.

By comparison, an APLA mortar box can be constructed such that the lightweight multi-shot cartridge case is the barrel itself (not at all difficult or expensive given the modest pressures applicable to 40mm grenade rounds), and such a system can be multi-shot-cartridge reloaded from the rear of the system, for operational safety.

With the multi-stacked projectiles frangibly screwed together, and explosively separated when fired, the projectiles would resist displacement along the barrel that might otherwise result from battlefield operation or from transport, and a system has already been developed by the Company that will automatically prevent the ignition of a following-round unless the leading-round has left the barrel. Given all that, I believe that the MS APLA pod system has always had the makings of an absolute winner application.

Troops I�ve spoken with have strongly agreed, some even stating that they would not knowingly advance against the overwhelming density of 40mm grenade fire the system can deliver. It is a low risk, short term, low cost, practical, high value, and largely competition-free application, with a very large potential market.

Militarily it provides the traditional objectives required of land mines, including slowing, channelling, and exposing an enemy. Also, it provides an altogether better job of demoralizing and defeating advancing enemy forces, stepping up from Shock-and-Awe to Stopped-for-Sure.

And from a humanitarian perspective, because it leaves no mines scattered throughout an area after the mortar boxes are removed or switched off, it eliminates the indiscriminate and lingering devastation inflicted daily around the world by the more conventional scattered mines that it can replace.

The Metal Storm team has not shown any slight hint of the necessary vision, understanding, imagination or capability to elevate this application to being of the major global significance that I believe it can be; or to attract the support of influential individuals, the public at large, the media generally, those groups that might push for it to replace indiscriminate mines worldwide, and organisations such as the United Nations, and prominent politicians. It is a huge issue that could begin to reduce, and over time, come close to eliminate needless maiming and deaths resulting from randomly distributed anti-personnel land mines. In some ways, the need for the Australian government to open discussion, then to recognize and act on this issue, parallels the Blood Diamonds issue in Africa.

The present team at Metal Storm are not up to any of this. The Company suffers from lack of strong leadership, and is uninspired, floundering, and lost in the woods. Years earlier though, the APLA system was The priority for MS. Concept APLA 16 barrel and 24 barrel pods were tested as early as 7 years ago, and worked perfectly. They are still on the MS website. They were early stage, and overbuilt, but they worked unfailingly. They proved the concept, and were ready to hand to the engineers to refine, to ruggedize and to make ready for sale.

Moreover, in 2005, DSTO even completed a funded MS ADWS-equivalent electronically networked multi-pod system concept demonstrator which live-fired 40mm dummy rounds successfully. That too is available to see on the MS website.

Where would these same APLA systems be today, if their development and introduction had continued to H.E. rounds, if international support had been established, and if APLA had remained a constant priority for the recently (lost) 7 years?

In 2003 the concept was already advanced enough to press for military, political, global and UN support . So what did the MS team do since that time? On the cusp of such a great opportunity... , they did the unimaginable, and pulled the plug on the entire operation.

In doing so they also pulled the plug on the similarly vast potential of other Stopped-for-Sure mortar box applications which fell naturally from the APLA application. These included wide-area massed-grenade perimeter defense, ambush and anti-ambush, and meaningful convoy defense.

The MS story since the abandonment of mortar box APLA development is a jumble of diminished and forever changing strategies, with the big picture opportunities ineptly cast aside, with nonsense systems such as the expensive and impossibly complex Anti-RPG dead-end application being built and discarded, and with a Board forever failing, then wanting further funds for yet another try, at yet another poorly conceived strategy.

The problem is not the technology. Massive change in Management and culture is essential.

APLA 16 Barrel development pod.
Check MS Website Video Gallery 16 May 2003

APLA 24 Barrel development pod.
Check MS Website Video Gallery Oct 2003

DSTO (Defence Science and Technology Organisation) ADWS multi pod, linked system.
Check MS Website Video Gallery July 2005