“Ironman” spits out bullets like there is no tomorrow

Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance can be said to be a box office flop among all the Marvel movie franchises to date, with wooden acting, a poor script, and no Eva Mendes. One memorable scene from the movie though, would be to have Ghost Rider spit out all the bullets that he had “swallowed”, save for them being “wrapped” in hellfire. Well, the human, mechanized version is not that dramatic, but future footsoldiers on the battlefield would definitely appreciate something like the “Ironman” pack that enables a single machine gunner to carry and fire up to 500 rounds of ammunition in combat without the need to take a break and reload.

According to Sam Newland, Quick Reaction coordinator for the U.S. Army’s Natick Soldier Research Development and Engineering Center, “As a single gunner, that’s lead on target for 500 continuous rounds of ammunition fired in bursts. It just made it more efficient for an individual gunner to execute his mission in that way. It started out as a DIY project, because soldiers on the battlefield needed a capability based on changes in the way they operated. As a result of that, they built it themselves with legacy equipment.”

Will this end up as part of the official Army gear? Only time will tell, and there are some definite advantages to it, not to mention increasing the chances of you surviving on the battlefield as you rain lead on the enemy lines without too many pauses in between.

Edwin Kee
Categories: Military
Tags: military