Posted on 02/01/2012 4:35:35 PM PST by NYTexan
ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - Engineers at Sandia National Laboratories have invented a bullet that guides itself to the target.
Sandia has wide expertise at miniature technology, and the bullet works like a tiny guided missile.
The patented design doesn't shoot straight. Instead of a spiral rotation, the bullet twists and turns to guide itself towards a laser directed point. It can make up to thirty corrections per second while in the air.
Jim Jones, distinguished member of technical staff, and his team of engineers at Sandia Labs think the .50-caliber bullets would work well with military machine guns so soldiers could hit their mark faster and with precision.
"We've tested gunpowders to see if we can get muzzle velocity for military interest," Jones said. "We've tested various electronic components to see if they would survive the launch."
The team needs a sponsor to take the prototype and manufacture it on a commercial scale. Research and development grants have taken the project this far.
Jones says it's about halfway through being fully developed for commercial use.
Smart bullet ping
Wouldn’t they be more expensive, sine each bullet has to have a rudder and steering wheel?
When bullets become smarter than the user.....Hello Skynet (sarc)
Personally, I’ve had scant troubles with inaccuracy.
I see this development as an advancement toward shooting around corners.
BOOYAH!
So you could literally have a bullet with your name on it (or at least your profile).
What, if anything, dos this do to military snipers? This looks like a “fire and forget” technology at the small arms level...
Just a thought here: If the bullets are made to adjust for poor aim or to aid in hitting a moving target, then in the long run doesn’t that actually detract for ‘real’ marksmanship of the individual soldiers?
Carry that trend out into the future and qualitatively the soldiers will be less capable if an EMP were to occur taking away their technological advantage.
And yet another different article on the same subject posted here
It's a popular topic today...
So they can’t tell where you are aiming until it hits them.
LOL...I’m always the last in the know...
I think that people should concentrate on good old fashioned marksmanship.Too much emphasis on technology and not enough development of personal skills.
Gawd if you think life is a b!tch now...
Haven’t gone into comments to see what the cost per copy is but I’ll wager it’s more than .$50. or fifty cents. Better save those for very high prized targets .
$$$$$$$$$$
A box of this ammo will probably cost more than the gun itself. LOL
$$$$$$$$$$
I could still imagine a use for this by the military/CIA(among others) Especially law enforcement - For those shots that CAN NOT miss, especially if you don’t have the greatest shooters on hand.
And this doesn’t include the taxpayer $$$$$$ paid to Sandia NATIONAL Laboratory to develop the round.
“I think that people should concentrate on good old fashioned marksmanship.Too much emphasis on technology and not enough development of personal skills.”
All the marksmanship in the world will not help in a gusty crosswind at long range. This technology will allow the flight of the bullet to correct it self as the wind changes during the flight.. A change of only a couple mph of wind can cause the point of impact to move a foot or more at 1000 yds and it gets much worse at longer ranges. You can’t always depend on a calm day when you need to make a shot.
Actually they can tell where you're aiming as soon as their coherent light detector alarms.
Every weapon carries the seeds of what can defeat it.
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