The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency said it is moving foward in its development of self-guided bullets as part of its Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program.
The U.S. military research agency staged a test that had a sniper shoot at a target from an angle that was extremely incorrect, and still hit a perfect shot, according to RT. A video of the test was posted on YouTube.
"DARPA's Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program recently conducted the first successful live-fire tests demonstrating in-flight guidance of .50-caliber bullets," DARPA said.
"This video shows EXACTO rounds maneuvering in flight to hit targets that are offset from where the sniper rifle aimed. EXACTO's specially designed ammunition and real-time optical guidance system help track and direct projectiles to their targets by compensating for weather, wind, target movement and other factors that could impede successful hits."
DARPA's rifles display several differences from the six Linux-powered TrackingPoint rifles bought by the military earlier this year, The Verge reported. A TrackingPoint rifle calculates gravity, fires and wind when correctly aligning the gun, while the DARPA project moves the bullet after it has been shot. The .50-caliber rounds in DARPA's guns are also bigger than the bullets in the TrackingPoint guns.
The project's guidance system and bullets are the only details about the gun that have been revealed, RT reported. The bullet is assisted by fins and an on-board computer in re-adjusting its path to stay on point with its target. In a process called "fire-and-forget" the bullet may react to any heat or movement close to the target area in order to make rapid fire easier.
Today's U.S. Army Snipers are expected to be able to hit their targets 600 meters away, nine times out of ten. However, even in the right conditions, accuracy declines after almost a kilometer away. Snipers are unable to easily estimate the effect that humidity and cross-winds have on the bullet's trajectory with today's technology, which could put them in danger. EXACTO promises that its bullets will be fired at a maximum range of 2,000 meters and will be virtually unaffected by conditions. DARPA's brief for the project also states that a rifle must use standard size ammunition and cannot weigh more than current rifles.
The number of snipers in the U.S. Army has increased, RT reported. Time Magazine reported that there was 250 snipers in the whole army before the Iraq War, and that number increased over three-fold when the number of U.S.'s operations overseas was at its highest. The amount of soldiers is expected to decrease in the future as the Obama Administration looks to get involved in less regional conflicts. However, the use of snipers for missions is expected to increase.
