US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Publishes Biennial Budget Estimates Relating To Metal Storm.Business Editors ARLINGTON Arlington, county, United States Arlington, county (1990 pop. 170,936), N Va., across the Potomac River from Washington, D.C. Arlington is a residential and commercial suburb of Washington. , Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 20, 2003 On 14th March 2003, Metal Storm Limited requested the Australian Stock Exchange Australian Stock Exchange (ASX) Australia's major securities market, formed when the six state stock exchanges (Adelaide, Brisbane, Hobart, Melbourne, Perth, and Sydney stock exchanges) were merged in 1987. to halt trading in Metal Storm (NASDAQ NASDAQ in full National Association of Securities Dealers Automated Quotations U.S. market for over-the-counter securities. Established in 1971 by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD), NASDAQ is an automated quotation system that reports on ticker symbol Ticker Symbol An arrangement of characters (usually letters) representing a particular security listed on an exchange or otherwise traded publicly. When a company issues securities to the public marketplace, it selects an available ticker symbol for its securities which investors : MTSX and ASX ASX See: Australian Stock Exchange trading code: MST See micro systems technology. ) stock. In conjunction with the trading halt Trading Halt A pause in the trading of a particular security on one or more exchanges, usually in anticipation of a news announcement or to correct an order imbalance. During a trading halt, open orders may be cancelled and options may be exercised. on the Australian Stock Exchange, Nasdaq was requested to halt trading in the ADRs prior to the opening of the market on 17th March. Metal Storm requested the trading halt to enable the company to consider information found on the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), U.S. government agency administered by the Department of Defense (see Defense, United States Department of). (DARPA DARPA: see Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) The name given to the U.S. Advanced Research Projects Agency during the 1980s. It was later renamed back to ARPA. ) website that identifies a new element of DARPA's involvement in the development of Metal Storm technology and concepts, with respect to a program titled the Mach See Mach kernel. Mach - An operating system kernel under development at Carnegie-Mellon University to support distributed and parallel computation. Mach is designed to support computing environments consisting of networks of uniprocessors and multiprocessors. 5/50 Technology Development. The information is contained in a public document titled 'Fiscal Year (FY) 2004/FY2005 Biennial biennial, plant requiring two years to complete its life cycle, as distinguished from an annual or a perennial. In the first year a biennial usually produces a rosette of leaves (e.g., the cabbage) and a fleshy root, which acts as a food reserve over the winter. Budget Estimates' and dated February February: see month. 2003. Prior to the publication of this information on the DARPA website, Metal Storm was not aware that information regarding the Mach 5/50 program had been made publicly available. Commenting on the information, Mike O'Dwyer O'Dwyer is a surname of:
adj. 1. Not placed or included in a class or category: unclassified mail. 2. information on the DARPA website and we have been seeking to properly understand the ramifications ramifications npl → Auswirkungen pl of the publication of this information since the publication came to the company's attention." "The tenure of the program extends over 4 years and has been funded by DARPA to a value of approximately A$9.7M (US$5.8M). The scope of the R&D program is complex and even though DARPA has published details of the Mach 5/50 Technology Development program, Metal Storm at this point has not agreed to the terms and conditions proposed by the relevant Australian Australian pertaining to or originating in Australia. Australian bat lyssavirus disease see Australian bat lyssavirus disease. Australian cattle dog a medium-sized, compact working dog used for control of cattle. government agency for the company's participation in the program." It should be noted that Metal Storm is entitled en·ti·tle tr.v. en·ti·tled, en·ti·tling, en·ti·tles 1. To give a name or title to. 2. To furnish with a right or claim to something: to royalties from any related program which utilizes the company's technology. Given the complexity and tenure of the program, Metal Storm expect that it will take some time before it is in a position to advise on the outcomes of ongoing discussions with DARPA and the relevant Australian government agency and therefore assess the impact for the company. With this release informing the market of the current situation, Metal Storm has requested the ASX to resume trading the company's securities. To view the information regarding Metal Storm on the DARPA web site, please visit http://www.darpa.mil/body/budg.html. The document is titled 'Fiscal Year (FY) 2004/FY2005 Biennial Budget Estimates' and the information is found on pages 383 and 384. These pages are reproduced below.
METAL STORM LIMITED
Release 19Mar03
UNCLASSIFIED DATE
RDT&E BUDGET ITEM JUSTIFICATION SHEET (R-2 Exhibit) February 2003
R-1 ITEM
NOMENCLATURE
APPROPRIATION/BUDGET ACTIVITY Land Warfare Technology
RDT&E, Defense-wide PE 0603764E, Project LNW-01
BA3 Advanced Technology Development
for cave clearing and on numerous other activities including
explosive ordinance disposal and recovery operations at the World
Trade Center immediately following the September 11th attacks. TMR
prototypes and research artifacts have been transitioned to the DoD
Joint Robotic Program where they are being utilized to support
additional research on robots.
(U) Program Plans:
- Completed final prototype modifications.
- Transitioned to military departments.
FY FY FY FY
2002 2003 2004 2005
Metal Storm (MS) 2.801 0.000 0.000 0.000
(U) The Metal Storm program demonstrated a revolutionary technique
for firing tactically relevant projectiles at very high rates without
the need for internal moving parts. The elimination of moving parts
from the system significantly reduced production, operation and
support costs, and decreased the level of maintenance required in the
field. This effort demonstrated : 1) electronic sequential firing of
three or more projectiles from a single barrel with the shortest
possible time interval between rounds; 2) projectile penetration 25.4
mm of rolled homogenous armor at 1,000 meters; and 3) maximum vertical
spread of 1 1/2 minute of angle at 300 and 600 meters. Studies were
conducted to explore the feasibility and applicability of Metal Strom
technology to other weapon systems, including vehicle self-defense,
anti-personnel landmine replacement, and a naval self-defense system.
As a result of data gathered under this program, a more promising
endeavor has been undertaken in the Mach 5/50 Technology Development.
Therefore, this program ends in FY 2002 and transitions to the Mach
5/50 Technology Development program.
(U) Program Plans:
-- Conducted vented bomb tests.
-- Conducted preliminary smooth bore test firings with U.S.
contractor and Australian government partner.
-- Performed a series of rifled bore proof-of-principle test
firings with performance increasing to the minimum time
interval between rounds and 1200 m/s muzzle velocity.
Demonstrated a preliminary reloading concept.
UNCLASSIFIED
383
METAL STORM LIMITED
Release 19Mar03 UNCLASSIFIED DATE
RDT&E BUDGET ITEM JUSTIFICATION SHEET (R-2 Exhibit) February 2003
R-1 ITEM NOMENCLATURE
APPROPRIATION/BUDGET ACTIVITY Land Warfare Technology
RDT&E, Defense-wide PE 0603764E, Project LNW-01
BA3 Advanced Technology Development
- Designed and simulated high performance, multi-barrel systems
for launching 40-50 millimeter supersonic projectiles.
- Conducted testing and assessment of critical system components.
FY FY FY FY
2002 2003 2004 2005
Mach 5/50 Technology Development 2.977 1.323 0.819 0.721
(U) Early Metal Storm tasks demonstrated revolutionary weapon
concepts for firing small caliber projectiles at very high rates
without the need for internal moving parts. The continuing Mach 5/50
tasks extend the concepts and technologies for leap-ahead performance
in tactically relevant, lightweight, medium caliber direct fire
weapons. The medium caliber projectiles (50 millimeter bore) will have
a minimum muzzle velocity of 1,600 meters per second (- Mach 5) at 600
rounds per minute or greater. Mach 5/50 technology development will
provide multiple services with a low-cost, reliable enabling
technology to support a wide range of current/future applications
including extended range combat vehicle firepower and lethality,
full-spectrum future combat vehicle lethality for active protection
systems, high engagement rate naval air defense, critical fixed site
defense and improved aircraft self-defense. Portions of the technology
development will be conducted under an agreement with the Australian
Defence Science and Technology Office.
(U) Program Plans:
- Develop medium caliber concepts, detailed performance
simulations and technical analyses.
- Fabricate and test critical technology subsystems.
- Complete integration of pre-prototype components and evaluate
against simulation-based interim performance parameters.
- Critical design review and complete fabrication of full-function
prototype.
- Complete system test and evaluation of full function prototype
and validate simulations.
- Conduct firing demonstration and deliver final report.
- Transition hardware and data packages to DoD laboratories for
Service-specific engineering and platform integration.
UNCLASSIFIED
384
Visit www.metalstorm.com About Metal Storm Metal Storm Limited is a research and development company based in Brisbane Brisbane (brĭz`bən), city (1991 pop. 1,145,537), capital of Queensland, E Australia, on the Brisbane River above its mouth on Moreton Bay. , Australia Australia (ôstrāl`yə), smallest continent, between the Indian and Pacific oceans. With the island state of Tasmania to the south, the continent makes up the Commonwealth of Australia, a federal parliamentary state (2005 est. pop. . The company is capturing attention from defense organizations worldwide with its revolutionary 100% electronic ballistics ballistics (bəlĭs`tĭks), science of projectiles. Interior ballistics deals with the propulsion and the motion of a projectile within a gun or firing device. 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 United States, officially United States of America, republic (2005 est. pop. 295,734,000), 3,539,227 sq mi (9,166,598 sq km), North America. The United States is the world's third largest country in population and the fourth largest country in area. . 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 Safe Harbor 1. A legal provision to reduce or eliminate liability as long as good faith is demonstrated. 2. A form of shark repellent implemented by a target company acquiring a business that is so poorly regulated that the target itself is less attractive. Certain statements made herein that use the words "estimate", "project", "intend", "expect", "believe" and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements forward-looking statement A projected financial statement based on management expectations. A forward-looking statement involves risks with regard to the accuracy of assumptions underlying the projections. within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 (PSLRA) implemented several significant substantive changes affecting certain cases brought under the federal securities laws, including changes related to pleading, discovery, liability, class representation and awards fees and 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. |
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