Software glitch "unlikely" to blame for deadly cannon incident, expert says

While some have speculated that a software glitch may been the cause of the deadly anti-aircraft cannon incident in South Africa last week, a defense expert is now casting doubt on that notion, saying that it is more likely the result of a "simple mechanical failure." According to Jim O'Halloran of Jane's Land-Based Air Defence (speaking to NewScientist), "if a shell was jammed in the breech and the cordite then fired, it could set off the ammunition in the canisters," which would in turn send the turret spinning. O'Halloran went on to say that it's "a very tragic accident, but it is not a robot gone out of control." As reported earlier, both the police and a Board of Inquiry are now investigating the matter, although there's been no firm conclusions from either as of yet.

[j.R @ Oct 19th 2007 4:30PM]

Leave it to sentient A.I. to pull off the perfect murder

[emdee @ Oct 19th 2007 4:44PM]

KILL ALL HUMANS!

[cibyr @ Oct 19th 2007 10:13PM]

FREE SODA TO ALL HUMANS!

[Rob @ Oct 19th 2007 4:46PM]

Not to make fun of this. But, is that an actual picture of the canon? That looks like Dumbo.

[Matthew Hilario @ Oct 19th 2007 4:58PM]

south african anti-air cannons look like elephants to blend in with surroundsing. camo power.

[MEAT! @ Oct 19th 2007 6:52PM]

Seriouslah. I click the image of the elephant cannon expecting to at least see it in the article, and instead the article contains no images. WHERE did that image come from??

[pathum @ Oct 19th 2007 8:04PM]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oerlikon_35_mm_twin_cannon

[Shaocaholica @ Oct 19th 2007 4:52PM]

Machines have been failing and killing people ever since people started making machines. I wouldn't consider new age computer driven machines any different. A computer program is just another machine. When AI starts to think for itself AND can kill people, thats when I'll be worried.

[Wwhat @ Oct 19th 2007 11:56PM]

OR you get optimistic perhaps?

[Matt @ Oct 19th 2007 4:55PM]

WTF? A deadly incident in the test of a deadly invention?
Sounds rather logical to me. Your stuff is working, dudes, no problem.

[Ogive @ Oct 19th 2007 4:58PM]

Somebody should tell them cordite is obsolete since the WWII so that they can finally admit that the robot got BERSERK...

ALL YOUR BASE ARE BELONG TO US

[bombastinator @ Oct 20th 2007 2:09AM]

Yep. This guy is sounding less like a weapons expert and more like a marketing expert.

Annother point. If this thing is a rapid fire gun and it's an Oerlikon like they said it's very likely to be long recoil. Long recoil guns generally don't stove pipe like this guy says. furthermore, if this gun is likely to cook off all its ammo if it jams then it would be a pretty unsafe weapon, and would not be in use by 35 countries.

[glucoseboy @ Oct 19th 2007 5:08PM]

This is the gun system in question:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oerlikon_35_mm_twin_cannon

It's quite sophisticated and saw actual combat during the Falklands conflict between Argentina and Great Britain.

The "dumbo" picture is just one configuration.

[chezzo @ Oct 19th 2007 6:19PM]

Meaning that it was "quite sophisticated" 20 years ago?

[Wwhat @ Oct 19th 2007 11:58PM]

I think most weapons are more than 20 years old now, tanks, planes, submarines, nuclear missiles.
Although they obviously do update their electronics.

[bombastinator @ Oct 20th 2007 9:12AM]

the gun itself is not new. Guns have been a mature technology for a long time. The colt .45 auto pistol remained standard issue for over 70 years in the U.S. Army, and the only reason they changed it was because the 9mm had better characteristics against body armor.

What has been changing is the electronic the fire control system.

[DickHardknocks @ Oct 19th 2007 5:15PM]

DROP YOUR WEAPON !
You have 15 seconds to comply!

[L. Cyphre @ Oct 20th 2007 7:29AM]

Guess it didn't hear their weapons fall.

[Adam @ Oct 19th 2007 6:07PM]

"...it is not a robot gone out of control." Umm... What? Did it kill people it wasn't supposed to? That means that it did something outside of user control, which hence would mean that the robot WAS out of control.

Machines such as this cannon, that point something in a particular direction, have position sensors that should have realized (if the ammo can blast story is true) that something outside of its control moved the turret. At that point, all cannon fire should cease until the turret is re-positioned to where it was supposed to be.

[Wwhat @ Oct 20th 2007 12:02AM]

That's what I was thinking too, you expect the thing to have feedback mechanism to know its orientation, but perhaps it merely counts the steps a cog makes.
They should step into modern times where even consoles can detect orientation of gamepads eh.

[rzlmlchm009 @ Oct 19th 2007 6:48PM]

That's what happened when it found its Gogic Racer in bed with a Roomba.

[uberfu @ Oct 22nd 2007 9:14AM]

It was hackers - not the software_