Metal Storm Limited Announces Appointment of General Manager in Australia.

Business Editors

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--May 23, 2003

Metal Storm Limited (NASDAQ Small Cap: MTSX and trading ASX code: MST), announced today that Mr. Ian Gillespie will join the company as General Manager effective Monday 26 May.

Mr. Gillespie will be based in Brisbane, Australia and report directly to the Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Charles Vehlow.

As General Manager, Ian Gillespie will be responsible for the management and leadership required for the interface with Metal Storm's Australian customers, and for furthering business relationships with Metal Storm's Australian partners. He will also take the lead role in Australia for investor relations. In undertaking these responsibilities, he will interact with the Board in relation to providing advice on company business issues. Importantly, Ian will support the business development and commercialization opportunities in Australia, the United Kingdom, Europe and Asia.

The appointment of a General Manager allows the company's founder and inventor, Mike O'Dwyer, to now focus full time on innovation and product development. Mike's role will also include moving product into defense industry markets as well as technical support to the Australian and US R&D program effort.

Ian is a seasoned executive who brings to Metal Storm over 18 years of extensive commercial sector experience from a number of industries and markets in Australia and internationally. Prior to joining, Metal Storm he held the position of Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Grow Force Australia Ltd, where he had responsibility for business planning, strategy formulation and growth, and investor relations. Between 1984 and 1999 he worked for Wormald International Limited, Atlas Steels Limited and Incitec Limited/Chemtrans, where in all three companies at various times he held positions as General Manager.

Ian holds a Bachelor of Arts (Industrial Relations), a Diploma of Laws NSW and was admitted as a Barrister-at-Law, Supreme Court of NSW in 1982. He is a Graduate of the Senior Managers Program, Cranfield University, UK, 1996, a Fellow of The CEO Institute of Australia and a Member of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Charles Vehlow, Chief Executive Officer of Metal Storm said, "Ian's appointment is part of our plan to further accelerate our business opportunities in Australia and the U.S. Ian has had experience in major public corporations in Australia and several private companies. His skills and experience in business analysis and strategy, finance, investor relations, and mergers and acquisitions, make him ideally suited to managing the Australian operations of Metal Storm and in particular, to interface our Australian efforts with expanding business partnerships in the U.S. Ian's appointment continues to build Metal Storm's business management team to support the technical and product development being undertaken by the company."

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About Metal Storm

Metal Storm Limited is a research and development company based in Brisbane, Australia. The company is capturing attention from defense organizations worldwide with its revolutionary 100% electronic ballistics technology, which has no known conventional equivalent. Metal Storm currently has approximately US$50 million in research and development funding in place to develop its technology from leading government defense-related agencies in Australia and the United States. Additionally, the company is well positioned to support the U.S. government's more urgent homeland defense needs. Recently, the U.S. Department of Defense has accelerated the programs under development as it strengthens its counter-terrorism capabilities.

Safe Harbor 

Certain statements made herein that use the words "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. These forward-looking statements involve known and unknown risks and uncertainties which could cause the actual results, performance or achievements of the company to be materially different from those which may be expressed or implied by such statements, including, among others, risks or uncertainties associated with the development of the company's technology, the ability of the company to meet its financial requirements, the ability of the company to protect its proprietary technology, potential limitations on the company's technology, the market for the company's products, government regulation in Australia and the U.S., changes in tax and other laws, changes in competition and the loss of key personnel. For additional information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties associated with the company's business, reference is made to the company's reports filed from time to time with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including the company's Form 20-F.