Self-guided Bullet Prototype Hits Targets a Mile Away

Scientific Computing ^ | 2/1/12

[Hodar]

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet....

Didn't see the info as to how much the bullet weighs, or muzzle velocity, but if it's that long, and with a range of 1 mile - it's gotta pack one heck of a kick.

[American in Israel]

Sounds like our goverment, to discover a million dollar way to replace a 5 buck way to shoot a mile. If you can point a laser designator you can point a Barret 50 caliber.

[taxcontrol]

Hmmm, I’m thinking gyrojet rifle + this tech as an add on to the bullet, plus a laser at the bottom of the gun. Might get interesting.

[null and void]

Too true that.

[Eska]

I see you have never shot an interior grizz here in Alaska. I'll take faster & harder hitting every time. I wonder if there be any limits other than 2000 yard range. Could this be designed for 50 cals or 338 lapuas? Up here, on our summit; I see super long range shots all the time, just never take them. Oh ya, we all dream of the 1200-1500 yard shots, but I never have felt confident past 800.

Funny thing is, just think about how technology has changed hunting already. I never thought I'd see all the ballistic software or game cameras hooked up to a monitor at home or range finders or friends owning 5-7 thousand dollar long range guns that were actually quite good shooters. Who knows what's nx?

[taxcontrol]

Hmmm, I’m thinking gyrojet rifle + this tech as an add on to the bullet, plus a laser at the bottom of the gun. Might get interesting.

[null and void]

Nope. Never have.

OTOH, we’ve never been at war with grizzlies either...

[az_gila]

Sounds like a micro version of the Paveway bomb kit that converts dumb bombs to laser guided ones.

Same technology, just scaled down a heck of a lot. With the fast update rate they don’t need to know how far off the trajectory the laser spot is, just which way to correct... Makes the detector design a heck of a lot easier.

[ModelBreaker]

Heck, it was in “Who Framed Roger Rabbit” too. But you had to put up wit the bullets whining :)

[null and void]

And getting lost. They were dum-dums after all...

[UCANSEE2]

So the bullet is laser guided and not self guided.

And requires someone standing near the target and pointing a laser at it.

[mvpel]

The article says it can’t spin, which makes sense - but does that mean that it can’t be fired from a rifled barrel? Probably not a drop-in replacement for a standard .50BMG cartridge, I reckon.

[az_gila]

So the bullet is laser guided and not self guided.

And requires someone standing near the target and pointing a laser at it.

---

...or a UAV with a laser...

[ModelBreaker]

“They were dum-dums after all...”

I guess they need to replace their four-byte processor with one of the fancy new eight-byte processors used in the ammo in the article.

[null and void]

Nothing wrong with an Intel4004...

[goat granny]

A good sniper can do the same thing...

[ModelBreaker]

“Nothing wrong with an Intel4004...”

Dum-dums must just have had a bad programmer then :)