NEW YORK: US military has been working so hard against terrorism. Therefore the military developed a new bullet. This new bullet can change its direction in midair.
While it sounds like the kind of technology that would be present only in the movies or in science-fiction novels, apparently it’s true: DARPA has provided these new bullets to the US military for testing. The new bullet, a .50 caliber round that is commonly used in sniper rifle teams, is easily capable of changing directions after it’s been fired, making it possible to hit targets that would have been impossible otherwise.
According to DARPA, the system works through the combination of a bullet that can be maneuvered with a real-time guidance system to provide directions to the projectile to hit the target. Given the code name EXACTO, which stands for Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance, the new ammunition could be revolutionary when it comes to performing under extreme weather conditions such as shifting winds or reduced visibility. Under such conditions EXACTO should be able to increase the accuracy of US military snipers at longer ranges of up to 1.2 miles.
The new system is also designed to speed up the process in which military snipers engage with targets while also reducing missed shots, two problems that could lead to revealing the location of a sniper out in the field. In essence, DARPA has engineered a rifle round that can “think” on its own thanks to its onboard guidance system, allowing for mid-flight course corrections and allowing snipers to remain less exposed before taking a shot without compromising accuracy.
Of course, there will be many who say that the accuracy of a sniper round fired by a human being simply can’t be discounted, especially since human snipers are trained specifically and exhaustively to take visibility, weather conditions, and distance to target into account. EXACTO might be the next best thing when it comes to putting accurate shots downrange, but it will likely be used to supplement the existing skills of US military marksmen instead of acting as a replacement for them.
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