WASHINGTON — The Department of Defense is developing .50-caliber bullets that can change direction, in an effort to help military snipers become more accurate.
The EXACTO program — Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance — is being developed for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, according to a DARPA video posted on YouTube, reports Stars and Stripes.
A statement accompanying the video says, “The EXACTO .50-caliber round and optical sighting technology expects to greatly extend the day and nighttime range over current state-of-the-art sniper systems.”
The Defense Department declined to comment on how the specially designed ammunition can change direction in midair, says Stars and Stripes.
The short, silent video shows two rounds of testing. A bullet was fired off target in both rounds, then changed path. In one test, it seemed to hit the target.
The DARPA website says EXACTO would be valuable in challenging conditions, such as high winds and dusty terrain in Afghanistan.
“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,” the website says.
In World War II, the Germans used a radio-controlled bomb called the Fritz X, which sank the Italian battleship Roma and damaged a number of ships during the Allied landing at Salerno, says Ted Gatchel, professor emeritus at the Naval War College.
Gatchel tells Stars and Stripes within months the Allies had developed a method of jamming the radio controls, making the bombs ineffective.
See the guided bullet in this DARPA video:
