Word: supergun
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...classified EXACTO program began a year ago, when the U.S. military's band of scientists and engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) - which played a key role in the creation of both the Internet and GPS - let the military-industrial complex know it was seeking a supergun. "The ability to more accurately prosecute targets at significantly longer range would provide a dramatic new capability to the U.S. military," DARPA'S solicitation for bids said. "The use of an actively controlled bullet will make it possible to counter environmental effects such as crosswinds and air density, and prosecute...
Tomorrow's soldiers will also be outfitted with the Army's new Buck Rogers-like supergun. The lower of its two barrels sprays more standard bullets, but the key to the new rifle--given the catchy Army name of "objective individual combat weapon"--is the 20-mm air-burst round fired by its top barrel. A built-in laser range finder tells the round where in flight to explode, giving it the ability to spray lethal shrapnel in all directions, like a hand grenade, as much as half a mile from the shooter. That translates into a gun that...
...alarmed when she discovered that a shipment of carbide metal-working tools to Baghdad -- tools that could be used to cut uranium -- might be illegal. She also learned of Kennametal sales to Matrix Churchill, Iraq's main U.S. purchasing agent, which was gathering materiel for projects like the infamous Supergun. She says she warned company officers that Kennametal was not following export regulations, and questioned other company practices. Within nine months of being hired, she was asked by her superiors to resign for being "uncooperative." Unable to find a new job, Gasior moved back into her parents' suburban Pittsburgh home...
Saddam never got a chance to use his SUPERGUN, a powerful megacannon capable of hurling chemical, biological or nuclear warheads hundreds of miles. U.N. forces dismantled two models in Iraq last year, one an incomplete version with a barrel 165 yards long. But Western intelligence agents in the Middle East are nervously tracking another design that is much easier to build. Unlike earlier models, the new weapon uses ordinary 1/8-in. bridge wire, a steel fiber common in the construction of suspension bridges. Spun while red-hot around large-diameter steel pipe, the wire strengthens the barrel enough to withstand...
However, inspectors said the remaining parts were not enough to build a working supergun, and they believed the problem was due simply to sloppy demolition work by Iraqi workers at the cite in the western desert near Jordan...