The agency that brought you the Internet has created a self-guided bullet

COMPUTERWORLD ^ | July 11, 2014 03:23 PM ET | Lucas Mearian

[Utilizer]

The U.S. government says it has developed the first ever self-guided bullets that can lock onto a target more than a mile away and maneuver midflight in order to hit its mark.

The .50 caliber target tracking bullets, dubbed Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO), are designed for military snipers, who must deal with changes in wind, light and ambient heat as they fire on a target.

The EXACTO technology is being developed by Teledyne Scientific and Imaging with funding from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which researches new military technologies and is known as a key developer of the Internet.

(depiction of the EXACTO .50 caliber bullet)

The EXACTO round and optical sighting technology is expected to greatly extend day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems, DARPA said in a statement on its website. The system combines the maneuverable bullet with a real-time laser-guidance system to track and deliver the projectile to the target.

[Utilizer]

A fire-and-forget bullet, if you can believe it. More info (a bit) as well as a short vid on the site. Ghostery shows 14 blocks but the page loads up pretty quickly.

Yet another reason to dream of that Barrett .50cal I so long to own...

[willywill]

“maneuver midflight in order to hit its mark”

yeah, it was the technology the warren commission told us Oswald must have used.

[cynwoody]

A fire-and-forget bullet, if you can believe it.

According to the link, you've got to keep a laser painting the target. That could be both ineffective and hazardous, should the target notice that he is painted. They must use infrared, since there is no light-spot visible in the video.

[Utilizer]

Well, I think they have already created coded-pulse infrared lasers not too long ago, so I would assume they are already in use in certain applications. We could also use a UV laser or even a maser if necessary, although those two options would tend to lean towards bulkier and probably heavier equipment.

Still, snipers typically use a spotter for accuracy, so the spotter could be the one to light up the target instead of the shooter.

[Mark17]

yeah, it was the technology the warren commission told us Oswald must have used.

Yes, they were just a little ahead of their time. Being as we all know Al Gore invented the Internet, did he invent this bullet too?

(/sarc)

[chris37]

Reminds me of that old movie “Runaway” with Gene Simmons as the bad guy, and he used smart bullets as well as some other nasty gadgets.

[Utilizer]

Thanks for the reminder. I had forgotten the name of that old movie and well remember wishing I had some of those bullets at the time.

The other gadgets were not as believable, since I was already working in electronics at the time and had a hard time suspending disbelief regarding most of them, but even with the slightly questionable FX I never forgot the 'magic' tracking bullets.

[edpc]

This is old tech. Extremely Accurate Targeting Anywhere In The World (EXACTAMUNDO), was invented by Arthur Fonzarelli in the 70s.

[cynwoody]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MpraJYnbVtE

[Bullish]

I could think of a very good and necessary use for an accurate sniper bullet right about now.

Just sayin’....

[Swordmaker]

Does this means there really CAN be a bullet with your name on it???

[Neidermeyer]

[DaveA37]

When they get it perfected, I want one!

[SgtHooper]

And if the bullet can be made untraceable, God help us all!!

[B4Ranch]

Sandia National Laboratories' first self-guided, small-arms projectile
(Source: Sandia National Labs)