Posted on 07/15/2014 3:58:52 PM PDT by BreezyDog
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) recently released video of what the agency claims to be the first successful live-fire test of a guided .50-caliber bullet. The tests were part of DARPA’s EXACTO program, an effort to create state-of-the-art systems to increase the effectiveness of military marksmen.
“For military snipers, acquiring moving targets in unfavorable conditions, such as high winds and dusty terrain commonly found in Afghanistan, is extremely challenging with current technology,” DARPA states on its website. “It is critical that snipers be able to engage targets faster, and with better accuracy, since any shot that doesn’t hit a target also risks the safety of troops by indicating their presence and potentially exposing their location.”
To that end, developers working in the EXACTO program have set the goal of creating a maneuverable bullet that can change its own path during flight to curve around obstacles. The specially-designed rounds contain a host of optical guidance and real-time tracking systems that DARPA touts as beyond what current technologies can offer.
Can’t wait until the local PD gets these.
Teledyne? They were the first company to really wow me with their technological advances. The parts I replaced after 30 years of use ( original mfg was long out of business ) with Teledyne parts lasted 30 days.
the assassin’s dream...
I don’t understand how a round can change direction like that.
Aft-burners? Like Ironman?
Let me guess, One round, $1,249.98?
Thanks. It’s still hard to believe with that kind of velocity. I didn’t read everything but I’d bet the further the target, the better the hit ratio. Close in it couldn’t have time to change direction.
They have little steering vanes.
“They have little steering vanes.”
And, a little bitty doodle bug inside to work the pedals.
“I’d bet the further the target, the better the hit ratio. Close in it couldn’t have time to change direction.”
I believe these are for snipers so they are, by definition; normally a long range round
Right. “Duh” to myself.
Also posted here: http://freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3180359/posts
“They have little steering vanes.”
Surface to air missiles and some artillery projectiles have for years used gas generators to effect changes of direction. Little tiny puffs of hot gas blown out side vents in the proper direction can force the projectile to alter its course. Useful when there’s no room to mount steering vanes, or no time to deploy them.
The Gyrojet (early 1960s) used vectored thrust to spin projectiles and achieve gyro stabilization.
What’s new here would be the level of microminiaturization. Seeker or receiver (to receive commands to change course), guidance processor, servo devices and effectors have been around for decades, but making them this tiny, and this rugged (to survive acceleration of being fired from the gun barrel) has been stumping designers for some years.
Ruggedization has taken time. The US designers of the variable-time fuze (proximity fuze) during WWII had to overcome huge difficulties to make electronic components sturdy enough to be fired from a gun (remember, the 1940s was the vacuum-tube era).
USN developers are still searching for electronic components able to endure launch from a rail gun. Currently, rail gun ammunition is limited to solid metal projectiles: no mechanical parts, pyro trains, nor bursting charges can survive launch yet still function.
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