Self-guided bullet prototype can hit target a mile away

[djzombie]

https://share.sandia.gov/news/resour...leases/bullet/

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M — Take two Sandia National Laboratories engineers who are hunters, get them talking about the sport and it shouldn’t be surprising when the conversation leads to a patented design for a self-guided bullet that could help war fighters. (Click here for a video showing the prototype’s flight.)

Sandia researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast and their colleagues have invented a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters).
Bullet prototype

A tiny light-emitting diode, or LED, attached to a self-guided bullet at Sandia National Laboratories shows a bright path during a nighttime field test that proved the battery and electronics could survive the bullet's launch. (Photo courtesy of Sandia National Laboratories) Click on thumbnail for high-resolution image.

“We have a very promising technology to guide small projectiles that could be fully developed inexpensively and rapidly,” Jones said.

Sandia is seeking a private company partner to complete testing of the prototype and bring a guided bullet to the marketplace.

Researchers have had initial success testing the design in computer simulations and in field tests of prototypes, built from commercially available parts, Jones said.

While engineering issues remain, “we’re confident in our science base and we’re confident the engineering-technology base is there to solve the problems,” he said.

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.

Most bullets shot from rifles, which have grooves, or rifling, that cause them to spin so they fly straight, like a long football pass. To enable a bullet to turn in flight toward a target and to simplify the design, the spin had to go, Jones said.

The bullet flies straight due to its aerodynamically stable design, which consists of a center of gravity that sits forward in the projectile and tiny fins that enable it to fly without spin, just as a dart does, he said.

More to read at the link. Crazy shit.

[Anton]

Non-rifled barrels. Electronics per round.

Gonna need some serious loot

[hey]

Sandia’s design for the four-inch-long bullet includes an optical sensor in the nose to detect a laser beam on a target. The sensor sends information to guidance and control electronics that use an algorithm in an eight-bit central processing unit to command electromagnetic actuators. These actuators steer tiny fins that guide the bullet to the target.

Doesn't seem exploitable at all.

Gonna need some serious loot

Depending on accuracy, i'd imagine it would save billions.

[Anton]

Depending on accuracy, i'd imagine it would save billions.

Well, seeing as how you'd need a special barrel just to fire it, the start-up costs would be too exorbitant to give each and every troop a laser-guided gun. Plus you've got all those perfectly good conventional bullets lying around.

Depending on the range, it may be the Sniper Rifle for Dummies.

[hey]

Well, seeing as how you'd need a special barrel just to fire it, the start-up costs would be too exorbitant to give each and every troop a laser-guided gun. Plus you've got all those perfectly good conventional bullets lying around.

Uh...what? Why on earth would every single soldier ever need a laser guided gun? The idea is absurd, and wouldn't even work anyway.

[Byrthnoth]

If I was a terrorist, I would definitely keep a few laser pointers around jic I needed to redirect a bullet to a nearby wall.

[Zetanio]

Less soldiers, less guns, less exposure?

Sounds like a winner to me.

Sandia researchers Red Jones and Brian Kast and their colleagues have invented a dart-like, self-guided bullet for small-caliber, smooth-bore firearms that could hit laser-designated targets at distances of more than a mile (about 2,000 meters).

Over a mile? Fuckkkk yeah. Mount em on a drone and start cleaning up.

[Churchill]

I really don't see practical use outside of HR scenarios during daytime/open area.

Also, it would be unlikely to work in any major urban area.

[Zetanio]

I really don't see practical use outside of HR scenarios during daytime/open area.

Also, it would be unlikely to work in any major urban area.

This is a tip of the iceberg situation I think.

Eventually it can be made even smaller, more mobile, and more accurate.

[Churchill]

I don't think you understand the limitations of laser designation

[Zetanio]

I understand the current limits for it. As I said, tip of the iceberg.

[Khamsin]

Well, seeing as how you'd need a special barrel just to fire it, the start-up costs would be too exorbitant to give each and every troop a laser-guided gun. Plus you've got all those perfectly good conventional bullets lying around.

Depending on the range, it may be the Sniper Rifle for Dummies.

The range seems about a mile. Wonder if you need line of sight, or if a spotter at the other end could point the laser in the right place while you fire around a wall, to make the bullet curve around and go toward the target once it's in sight.

Or is it basically just like those guns with laser-pointers on them for aiming, only slightly better since you don't have to account for how far it'll drop or what the wind speeds are?

[Uzor]

The range seems about a mile. Wonder if you need line of sight, or if a spotter at the other end could point the laser in the right place while you fire around a wall, to make the bullet curve around and go toward the target once it's in sight.

Or is it basically just like those guns with laser-pointers on them for aiming, only slightly better since you don't have to account for how far it'll drop or what the wind speeds are?

Last one. It makes it easier to aim by ignoring wind conditions. Doesn't make it possible to shoot from as far away though, I believe.

[Callisto]

I figured this entire concept was bullshit since it was on an episode of Bones

[Churchill]

I really don't see practical use outside of HR scenarios during daytime/open area.

Also, it would be unlikely to work in any major urban area.

Again, this. I can think of no time I've ever fired a weapon and wanted to guide a bullet to the target. Urban areas have too much RF for the designator to work properly all the time, limiting you to daytime/open areas because night scope (Thermal, IR) designation is far too broad of a field of view. If you're shooting close enough to accurately aim via Thermal or IR, you're close enough to fire your weapon iron sights and you don't need a magic bullet. Most situations, a Sniper is going to want to fire his own shot, so the only real scenario I see something like this useful is HR with untrained snipers or extremely long shots someone may not be capable of/confident of.

[Yugl]

RF?

[bungiefan]

The article says it's optically guided by laser, no RF needed. Thus an urban area shouldn't make a difference unless everyone is flashing lasers around for kicks.

[Kerberoz]

This sounds even dumber than that "million rounds per minute" gun that only holds a few hundred BBs and has to be manually reloaded after every shot.

[Takedown3]

the earth is round??? outrageous! hang him!

thats what a lot of you sound like right now. future tech bring it on!

[Zetanio]