The DREAD weapon system is said to use centrifugal force (which, as all scientists know, is a shorthand term for something slightly different) to fire high-tech miniature golfballs in rapid succession at high speeds. Its manufacturer, Leader Propulsion Systems, has modestly kept a low public profile.
A series of reports by DefenseReview.com are revealing the information, in bits and parts, to the thrill-starved public. Here is their description of the weapon:
[T]he DREAD is an electrically-powered centrifuge weapon, or centrifuge "gun". So, instead of using self-contained cartridges containing powdered propellant (gunpowder), the DREAD’s ammunition will be .308 and .50 caliber round metal balls (steel, tungsten, tungsten carbide, ceramic-coated tungsten, etc…) that will be literally spun out of the weapon at speeds as high as 8000 fps… Here’s the kicker: because it’s electrically powered and doesn’t use
any powdered propellant for it’s operation, the DREAD Centrifuge Weapon
is virtually silent (no sound signature), except for the supersonic
"crack" of the metal balls breaking the sound barrier when they’re
launched.
An authoritatively entertaining promotional video explains the concept and the well-spun promise. (You can download an exciting 18-meg quicktime file, if you like.) There is also an official DREAD Technology White Paper, which begins with Parts 1, and continues from there. All of this is available from DefenseReview.com.
The inventor is Charles St. George, a Connecticut resident who once lived in Australia, and who so far has succeeded at weathering the glare of mega-publicity. Some of Mr. Charles’s design principles are revealed in U.S. patent #6,520,169, which was granted in 2003. Mr. Charles assigned the patent to Trinamic Technologies, LLC, which is or was based in West Hartford, Connecticut. The company, like Leader Propulsion Systems (and of course like Mr. Charles himself), has so far been spared the withering effects of focused attention from the press.