At 3,900 rounds per minute, the Lockheed-Martin 30 mm GAU-8/A seven-barrel Gatling gun (ex-"GE Minigun") in the Fairchild A-10 Thunderbolt (aka the Warthog) has long held the record for the greatest rate of fire of any currently-deployed firearm.

All that will change, however, if a small Australian company gets its way ... it's right there on the front page - Mike O'Dwyer's machine gun design which has no moving parts offers a "variable rate of fire confirmed to one million rounds per minute".

A conventional machine gun delivers its rounds spaced about 300 feet apart. The Metalstorm's rounds depart the muzzle a mere 4 inches apart.