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The Future is Now: Self-Guided Bullets Have Arrived

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Kinitari said:
I'm assuming there is some sophisticated imaging software and hardware built into the gun, and the bullet has a chip inside? Ima read up on it cause now I'm curious.

edit:

That's how it works. Optical sensor on the bullets tip, follows the laser trained on the target.
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read the article. At the tip is an optical sensor, that can detect a laser beam being shone on a far-off target.


This is technically a small-weight A-10 Guided Missile or Javelin for instance...and possibly costly enough not to be fielded by every soldier.
 
So basically this works the way missles and bombs have worked for 30 years now. Don't get too excited all you military haters.
 
Casp0r said:
What's wrong with a guided missile from a UAV?
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Why not have a UAV with a rifle instead of a missile launcher. Stealth kills. UAV can track the target itself from very far away so even if the target moves, the bullet finds its mark. Then the UAV could kill multiple targets within a couple seconds of each other. Just moving the laser from one target to the next after the bullet hits and the next one if fired.
 
jooey said:
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—Now really. This is just some impressive laser-sniping mumbo-jumbo...that's all.

Can't say I'm convinced it will be worth the money involved, unless manufacturers can tie this tech into laser scope equipment to be used in tandem. If that happens, and this innovation becomes practical, then it could be some real shit to deal with.
 
I'm not sure if it would make an unskilled shooter into a machine. Looks like it is still saying that someone has to aim the laser, so the target would still have to be visible and and aimed at by someone. Plus they would have to make it in a bunch of different bullet types (open air vs piercing glass, etc.) Definitely an interesting innovation, but if I'm reading it correctly, they would still need a sharpshooter to operate effectively.
 
Pandaman said:
how does the bullet know what its supposed to hit?


oh, so its only as accurate as the person aiming it.
and that person gets somewhere between 1 and 2 seconds per mile to correct his or her aim.

hmmm. glad my country isnt the one wasting money on this. :P
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Aiming isn't just about keeping the crosshairs on the target. Pointing a laser where you want a bullet to hit from two miles away is easy. Shooting from that distance means doing math to account for temperature, wind, ballistics, etc and aiming somewhere else to account for all of it.
 
Pandaman said:
how does the bullet know what its supposed to hit?


oh, so its only as accurate as the person aiming it.
and that person gets somewhere between 1 and 2 seconds per mile to correct his or her aim.

hmmm. glad my country isnt the one wasting money on this. :P
Click to expand...

You really can't be this dense can you?


Chittagong said:
just takes one Taleban with a Javelin and everybody's gun is f'ed.
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What are you talking about?
 
For those wondering, the bullet is guided by a separate laser being held on a target.

I assume, therefore, that the second person on the sniper team (spotter) will hold the laser on the target's head/torso and the Sniper takes his best shot...then the bullet course-corrects as necessary based on the location of the laser dot on the target.

Presumably, this means that if the laser falls off the target, the bullet will miss.
 
smurfx said:
i'm hoping this is far cheaper.
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Hmmm ...

JaggedSac said:
Why not have a UAV with a rifle instead of a missile launcher. Stealth kills. UAV can track the target itself from very far away so even if the target moves, the bullet finds its mark. Then the UAV could kill multiple targets within a couple seconds of each other. Just moving the laser from one target to the next after the bullet hits and the next one if fired.
Click to expand...

That sounds cooler. Whatever that gun apaches fire that cuts up all those Taliban on youtube ... this technology + that = save lots of money on ammo.
 
JaggedSac said:
Why not have a UAV with a rifle instead of a missile launcher. Stealth kills. UAV can track the target itself from very far away so even if the target moves, the bullet finds its mark. Then the UAV could kill multiple targets within a couple seconds of each other. Just moving the laser from one target to the next after the bullet hits and the next one if fired.
Click to expand...

I've imagined this myself.

It would be stealthy like you said, a lot more surgical. Take out the one guy and keep moving.

EDIT: Looks like someone is thinking about it.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/military/planes-uavs/4313331
 
This sounds like a bad Tom Selleck movie...

oh wait it is.. but at least Kirstie Alley was hot in it.

Really though, I wonder what one of these things costs. Has to be ridiculous.
 
This kinda stuff scares the crap outta me. I just can't wait until the government has the power to assassinate a specific individual anywhere in the world from a satellite or something. =/ bleah
 
Cool, but it's going to cost too much to ever be rolled out for mass usage of any kind, and will likely just never see actual combat use.
 
Pandaman said:
how does the bullet know what its supposed to hit?


oh, so its only as accurate as the person aiming it.
and that person gets somewhere between 1 and 2 seconds per mile to correct his or her aim.

hmmm. glad my country isnt the one wasting money on this. :P
Click to expand...

I don't think you understand. You can aim the laser at the target, but shit like wind can take the bullet off course. This corrects for that.


Pandaman said:
well, we've established that its not self-guided and largely useless in the first page, efficient!
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No. I think we've established that your reading comprehension sucks.

Real life isn't a video game. Crosshairs kept on a target does not mean the bullet will hit.
 
I'm going to invent an electronic system that will overide that bullet and send it back to the person who fired it. *trollface*
 
this will probably fuel another 5 seasons of CSI, forensics just got that much harder!
 
It must use a very high resolution optical sensor to detect the dot at 2km away...and to not mistake it for other similar looking colored dots it sees
 
Even real life is balanced more to give campers the advantage! All of these war games were really being realistic after all.
 
I'm pretty sure MW3 already has this implemented with all the times I've died behind walls and around corners.
 
I'm reminded of that movie that had bullets that could be programmed to seek out and kill a specific target. That would be some scary shit.
 
fucking campers will have a field day with this shit.

This kinda stuff scares the crap outta me. I just can't wait until the government has the power to assassinate a specific individual anywhere in the world from a satellite or something. =/ bleah
Click to expand...

my butthole started to relax the first time USA used a robot to murder someone in afghanistan a few years back.

We'll be skipping terminator and going straight to 'we tracking him using his credit card GPS, initiate laser sir?'
 
ronito said:
still no cure for cancer.
Click to expand...

depends on how open you are about the definition of 'cure'...


I guess they could have a spotter with a laser designator, and a shooter with a clear path, and the bullet does all the pathfinding. That seems pretty awesome to me.
 
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