Metal Storm is pleased to announce that two Australian Police Forces have formally requested an opportunity to trial the Metal Storm MAUL 12-gauge weapon system.

BREON Defence, the Asia Pacific TASER distributor and Metal Storm's exclusive distributor for law enforcement in Australia and New Zealand, has delivered the formal requests on police letterhead to the Company.

Metal Storm CEO, Dr Lee Finniear said that MAUL was creating a great deal of enquiry and requests for trials from around the world, however as an Australian Company getting the interest of the Australian Police is a very important step forward.

"Internationally MAUL continues to gather momentum even before we enter production", he said. "At present we have formal enquiries and/or requests for trial from 46 US domestic law enforcement agencies, 6 US Federal law enforcement agencies and 11 other international law enforcement agencies." he said. "However, as Australians we attach great importance to assisting our own police forces to obtain the benefit of our developments".

Director of BREON Defence, Mr George Hateley said he could see a very clear future for MAUL in Police operations.

"As a Director of BREON and a former member of the Victoria Police Special Operations Group (Anti-Terrorist Unit) I have a great deal of experience knowing what Tactical Special Operations and law enforcement officers need in their respective roles in 'High Risk' entries under warrant, and in the arrests of potential violent and or armed offenders," he said.

"When I saw MAUL I recognised it as an incredibly flexible non-lethal/lethal weapon when compared to what is currently available. We are 100% confident in our initial enquiries with specialist law enforcement units around Australia that the weapon will easily fit into the holistic weapons package and minimise what needs to be carried in the future in 'High Risk' tasks".

The Company recently announced it is collaborating with TASER International to integrate TASER capabilities into MAUL using the TASER XREP projectile and increase its capability for law enforcement operations.

The Company is currently undertaking a Rights Issue to raise capital. Part of the raising will be used to progress MAUL toward full production to satisfy the growing demand for the weapon.

Dr Finniear said, "Recent published market research states that the global non-lethal weapons market is expected to grow three-fold by 2020. Demand for MAUL is undeniable and getting this weapon into production is a top priority for the Company" he said. "In the short term we are focusing our resources onto MAUL to meet this growing demand for trials and the potential for near term deployments."