Robot Cannon Terminates Nine
Written by OddCulture on October 18th, 2007 in Trainwrecks, accidents, funny video, mature, military, travel.
Robot Cannon Kills 9, Wounds 14
Story found on Gizmodo and Wired:
A robot cannon began wildly and autonomously firing its huge gun in South Africa last Friday, killing 9 soldiers and wounding 14. The Oerlikon GDF-005 antiaircraft gun suddenly began uncontrollably shooting as it swung back and forth, spraying hundreds of high-explosive 35mm cannon shells all over the place. The crazed robot’s handlers are still trying to figure out what sort of software bug would cause such mayhem.
The Oerlikon GDF-005 is designed to use passive and active radar, as well as laser range finders, to lock on to “high-speed, low-flying aircraft, helicopters, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) and cruise missiles.” In “automatic mode,” the weapon feeds targeting data from the fire control unit straight to the pair of 35mm guns, and reloads on its own when its emptied its magazine.
We’re sure it’s only a minor glitch.
