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Gadgets Gone Evil 9

by Dan Reilly on March 20, 2008 at 08:50 AM

Robots Are Evil, Part 2

In another robot-involved shooting more akin to the 'Terminator' movies, an anti-aircraft gun killed nine soldiers and injured 14 after malfunctioning. The gun, designed to automatically target and fire at enemy aircraft and missiles without any human intervention, began wildly spraying "hundreds of high-explosive 0.5kg 35mm cannon shells around the five-gun firing position." The weapon ceased firing only after running out of ammunition.

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Comments

DevynnMar 30th 2008 12:28AM

Neutral

why weren't the soliders wearing any protective gear?! EVERYONE knows that when you're dealing with LIVE AMMO, you HAVE to protect yourself. unless you've got a death wish. seesh!

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su27chaosSep 14th 2008 5:29PM

Neutral

lol isn't 35 mm bullets too big and plus AA guns are meant to fight aircraft which has metal plating. metal = large size bullets.

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LT_PrasuhnJun 18th 2009 6:08AM

Neutral

The military (Army and Marine Corps) train daily (Basic Training, Advanced Individual Training (AIT) and -- at least -- semi-annually for weapons qualification (to maintain their proficiency) all over the world and they NEVER wear any protective clothing or gear except for their combat helmet, and they use LIVE ammo.

This story was about and anti-aircraft gun (BIG BULLETS) made to take down aircraft (fighter jets, bombers and helicopters). Short of being SUPERMAN, there's NOTHING currently made that would have protected them even if they were wearing 'protective' gear. This was a 'once in an ungodly number' occurrence where the 'machine' malfunctioned and didn't stop firing until it ran out of ammunition. I probably could have ended sooner by human intervention, but my guess is THEY were all ducking for cover and running for their lives to get away from the situation.

Read, re-read and read again before 'jumping' to conclusions. It's the best 'cure' for 'Foot-In-Mouth' disease.

'Nuff Said',

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Scott RathmanMar 31st 2008 8:20PM

Neutral

Note to Devynn, if they ever make protective gear that is effective against a 35mm explosive projectile I'm sure our troops will wear it, the current stuff is only good for 7.62mm (note the decimal point) non-exploding type bullets...kinda like wearing speedos in a hailstorm.

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MikeApr 12th 2008 11:32AM

Neutral

First of all, why haven't we heard about this from the mainstream news media? Surely this wasn't U.S. soldiers, so what country did this happen in? And when? Not enough details to make this story believeable. I'm calling bullshit.

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JustinNov 4th 2008 6:26PM

Neutral

South Africa. Click the link, it says it there.

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Kyllein MacKellerannJul 24th 2008 12:45AM

Neutral

Ahh, yes: lowest bidder gets the contract. We can replace soldiers, apparently; but not money.

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