Reply #19: M134 Gatling Gun

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Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory plans to install high-powered machine guns over the next few months capable of hitting land vehicles or aircraft almost a mile away in the event of a terrorist attack.

Known as Gatling guns because they are multi-barreled, like their 19th-century ancestors, they simultaneously fire 7.62mm bullets from six barrels at up to 4,000 rounds per minute, powerful enough to take down an enemy aircraft or helicopter, officials said.

The guns will give the nuclear weapons lab greater ability to guard its huge cache of radioactive plutonium, said Linton Brooks, head of the U.S. National Nuclear Security Administration, a quasi-independent agency that oversees the nation's nuclear weapons complex for the U.S. Department of Energy. The agency ordered the weapons.

"A lot of people are willing to die if they can kill lots of Americans ... You want to make clear that when they come here to die (by attacking the lab), they die for a failure," the blunt-speaking Brooks said at a press conference at Livermore on Thursday, where he unveiled one of the guns.

He said the guns will be operational later this year after the lab's guards are trained and the weapons and related equipment are purchased. Brooks insisted the Gatling gun purchase is unrelated to a recent announcement that the lab might double its supply of plutonium.

Lab officials said several Gatling guns will be deployed at the lab, some mounted on vehicles and others at undisclosed fixed locations, but for security reasons declined to say exactly how many or when.

Manufactured by Dillon Aero of Scottsdale, Ariz., the guns cost between $50,000 and $75,000, depending on accessories, and can unleash their barrage of bullets up to 1,500 meters or nearly a mile away.

Each gun gives Lawrence Livermore firepower equivalent to a dozen guards armed with the high-powered rifles they currently carry, said Robert Claire, the lab's armorer — the man in charge of its anti-terrorist weaponry.

Officials said, however, there are no plans to reduce the lab's security force, employed by Lawrence Livermore and UC, which runs the lab under contract with the Energy Department.




http://www.mindfully.org/Technology/2006/M134-Gatling-Livermore3feb06.htm




Now... how do I sign-up to be a security guard at Livermore? B-)