This Bullet-Guiding System Can Turn Literally Anyone Into Professional Snipers

Snipers engage when the targets are at a longer distance than the usual length a typical rifleman can cover. Their precision comes from specialized training, quality optics, and high power rifles to hit a target that might appear as merely a speck on the horizon.

Snipers’ targets range from specialized enemy troops like a command, control, engineers, and material targets like light vehicles, antennas, and aircraft.

The EXACTO program is made to help snipers hit their target more quickly and accurately at a longer range.

When snipers are out on their job, they have to shoot at a great distance with precision rifles all while doing quite a lot of math in their heads. What EXACTO does is to take part of the burden off snipers’ shoulders by installing a guidance system in bullets. The best part of such a system is it is unaffected by changes in the surrounding environment like a gust of wind.

EXACTO is expected to be effective against moving targets like aerial vehicles and drones.

While on the field, snipers must contend with the sheer distance they have to cover, the limitations of their weapons, and even physics to deliver an accurate hit.

Right after they are shot out of the barrels, bullets will immediately slow down under the influence of gravity. This means bullets will not go straight to the target but fly in a downward arc. They can easily lose their velocity on the way when weather conditions exert their impact.

Snipers often have access to ballistic data of previous missions so they can, predict how bullets will travel under certain conditions. These data are vital to help soldiers make an informed decision but collecting them can be time-consuming.

To simplify and speed up this process, one method is to use a computer to collect, analyze data, and adjust the aim point. Another way is to turn bullets into guided weapons.

The latter method is what DARPA (short for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) has taken. EXACTO stands for Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance and it creates guided rounds from .50 caliber bullets capable of hitting a target.

While DARPA doesn’t elaborate on how exactly it is able to do this, some reports claim the technology involves the use of optical sensors on the bullets’ nose and fins to adjust the course. The guide system works similarly to laser-guided weapons and the bullets can even make very sharp turns to hit the target.

According to DARPA, this system is so effective that an amateur shooter was able to hit a moving target in a test.

EXACTO has an edge over a ballistic computer in the way that it can still assist the bullet when it has left the barrels, unlike a computer, which has no impact on the bullet after it was fired. The system continues to guide during the flying course of bullet, making sure that it can still hit when the target moves.

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