Agreement to Commercialise :METAL STORM PARTNERS WITH NJIT TO...

Agreement to Commercialise :

METAL STORM PARTNERS WITH NJIT TO COMMERCIALISE
‘PERSONALISED’ HANDGUN
O’Dwyer VLe® Smart Gun is NJIT’s Viable Option to Meet New US Handgun Legislation
BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA – 29 August 2003: Metal Storm Limited (ASX trading code: MST and
NASDAQ Small Cap ticker symbol: MTSX) and New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT), Newark,
N.J., announced today they have signed a formal partnership agreement to jointly commercialise
Metal Storm’s O’Dwyer VLe® electronic handgun with NJIT’s recently patented Dynamic Grip
Recognition (DGR) biometric authorising technology.
The NJIT is a technology research organisation which expends more than US$50 million annually in
supporting commercially promising new technologies.
The State of New Jersey passed legislation in December 2002 specifying that “three years after it is
determined that personalized handguns are available for retail purposes, it will be illegal…. for any
dealer or manufacturer to sell, assign or transfer any handgun unless that handgun is a personalized
handgun”. The States of New York, Ohio and Tennessee as well as the US Congress, are understood
to be preparing similar legislation*.
NJIT Vice President for Research and Development Dr Donald H. Sebastian said, “This is a
technology that represents the future in handgun safety and control.
“NJIT has determined that Metal Storm’s O’Dwyer VLe® electronic handgun is the most viable option
that meets the requirements to integrate our ‘Dynamic Grip Recognition’ technology, and in
combination, meets the New Jersey legislation mandating the use of ‘personalised’ handguns.
“The O’Dwyer VLe® electronic handgun allows a range of ‘personalising technology’ to be incorporated
into Metal Storm’s original design of the weapon. It’s not an ‘add on,’ which has been the difficulty in
the past.
“An indication of the value and importance we place on Metal Storm’s O’Dwyer VLe® electronic
handgun in creating the world’s first safe ‘personalised’ handgun is that we are putting the full weight
of our technical and political resources to bear, to proceed in obtaining the necessary US$6-7 million
funding to build the first production prototype of this exciting product,” said Dr Sebastian.
®
Metal Storm’s CEO, Charles Vehlow said “The commercial potential of having a ‘personalised’
handgun which meets legislative requirements is significant as it creates markets on a state, national
and international scale. The market is massive with more than 943,000 handguns being
manufactured in the US alone in 2001.
“The O’Dwyer VLe® provides an affordable personalised handgun and offers increased control and
safety,” said Mr Vehlow.
“The NJIT’s patented ‘Dynamic Grip Recognition’ technology is well developed and has already met
and passed some of the most demanding test standards and is on track to outperform today’s
mechanical counterparts,” he said.
“The ‘personalised’ handgun that will integrate these two unique technologies will meet the mandated
legislation that New Jersey has enacted.
“For the first time, appropriate safety standards are being applied to firearms which provide safety and
protection against misuse or theft and which keep a handgun safe from people who might misuse it
either deliberately or accidentally.
“The ‘personalised’ handgun which we will produce, will be childproof and personalised to the owner
and will aid significantly in reducing gun deaths, which in the US in 2000 totalled more than 28,000.
“Metal Storm has also recently completed a study commissioned by the National Institute of Justice
(NIJ) for law enforcement applications involving our successful prototype O’Dwyer VLe®,” said Mr
Vehlow.
==ENDS==
*Source: AAP article “N.J. Enacts First ‘Smart Gun’ Law in U.S.” by Peter Saharko, Dec 24, 2002.