US military research agency DARPA says it is homing in on its long-term ambition of producing self-guided bullets, after staging a test in which a sniper was able to shoot at a target at a radically wrong angle, and yet still hit it perfectly.
DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program recently conducted the first successful live-fire tests demonstrating in-flight guidance of .50-caliber bullets,
But behind the dry description is a fascinating use of technology that the Pentagon has invested more than $25 million into since the program’s inception in 2008.
While the exact technologies used remain classified, an automatic aiming rifle consists of two parts – a guidance system and the bullet. The first tracks the target, meaning that the sniper simply has to “see†it with a sophisticated optical sight, and send signals to the bullet. With a number of fins and an on-board computer, the bullet – which may also calculate air pressure – constantly re-adjusts its path to home in on the target. To make rapid fire even simpler, it may simply react to any heat or movement near the target area, in what is known as “fire-and-forget.â€
It seems that nobody will be safe anywhere, and most of all in the country of the invention.
DARPA’s Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program recently conducted the first successful live-fire tests demonstrating in-flight guidance of .50-caliber bullets,
But behind the dry description is a fascinating use of technology that the Pentagon has invested more than $25 million into since the program’s inception in 2008.
While the exact technologies used remain classified, an automatic aiming rifle consists of two parts – a guidance system and the bullet. The first tracks the target, meaning that the sniper simply has to “see†it with a sophisticated optical sight, and send signals to the bullet. With a number of fins and an on-board computer, the bullet – which may also calculate air pressure – constantly re-adjusts its path to home in on the target. To make rapid fire even simpler, it may simply react to any heat or movement near the target area, in what is known as “fire-and-forget.â€
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http://rt.com/usa/172148-darpa-exacto-guided-bullet/