DARPA 'Smart' bullets

D

DaleA

New member
I don't know exactly why but the DARPA smart bullets are in the news again.

http://www.cnn.com/2015/04/29/us/us-military-self-guided-bullet/

The system has been developed by DARPA's Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance program, known as EXACTO.
Click to expand...

Details in the video are a little scarce. The text says it's .50 caliber ammo but in the video they show a box of 9mm Blazer ammunition that I'm guessing is just box stock ammo.

They show an illustration of a boat tailed bullet with three bands on it and say there is an optical sensor in the nose of the bullet and thee are tiny fins (presumably in the bands) that steer the bullet to its target.

They didn't mention electronics or batteries or how you 'tell' the bullet what the target is - maybe that's coming in the future.
 
Presumably there's a laser in the targeting system.

And I'd love to know what the per-round cost will be once the bullet is in production...
 
My evil design for global domination using nanotechnology miniature warhead rockets with loiter capability, nose cameras, and facial recognition software slaved to drivers license photo databases is looking better all the time.
 
DaleA said:
They didn't mention electronics or batteries or how you 'tell' the bullet what the target is - maybe that's coming in the future.
Click to expand...

As I understand the idea, the nose opens and an arm extends to knock on the door of the target. If the target answers, the arm clobbers it with a wooden mallet.
 
As I understand the idea, the nose opens and an arm extends to knock on the door of the target. If the target answers, the arm clobbers it with a wooden mallet.
Click to expand...

I sure miss them old Looney Tunes cartoons.
 
Let's get back on track and not say silly things about physics. Guided gun fired projectiles is old news with cannons. There is no reason as Kilm. stated that such tech couldn't be applied to smaller rounds.
 
5 years ago the company I worked for looked at small-arms guided projectile technology.

You can read that thread here:
http://thefiringline.com/forums/showthread.php?t=433526&highlight=poll

Clearly hunters were not interested.


There are several key issues that were solved before our cannon fuze business was sold off. Based on the smallest rounds with smart fuzes in many nations inventories, swapping proximity for directional electronics is not difficult, nor going to a 1/2" diameter projectile. The actuators to 'gently nudge', without destabilizing, the projectile toward the target can be very simple or complex.
Short range guidance = simple, long range (X-thousand yards) = not simple.

Further there is a not-so-obvious study that variants need to consider: smooth bore or rifled barrel. Several factors come to play and 1-size does not fit all.

A .50 BMG was chosen at the time because it was large enough to shrink existing ruggedized electronics, high BC, and provides more internal space to work with. I expect that is similar reason for the EXACTO round size. And in the future that will also shrink to infantry rifles.

I don't think hunters are willing to pay the $$$ per round, although clearly TrackingPoint is selling $10K+ rifles. If I had a machine shop this would be fun to build a prototype, as the electronics are easy.
I don't expect these rounds will be available to the public in the near future, as the ability for one person to make major international political change is too great and difficult to defend against at great distances.

Still, fun to watch.
 
Vanya asked:
Presumably there's a laser in the targeting system.

And I'd love to know what the per-round cost will be once the bullet is in production...
Click to expand...

On both XACTO and our commercial venture, both use an IR (changeable) laser, one is pulsed the other is CW.
The commercial venture gun mod est cost was a few hundred $'s. The bullets in initial production would be OM $100 each. Expensive for a deer, cheap for certain others. Higher production rates would bring cost down to $30-50 per round. The commercial round requires rifling, I suspect the same for XACTO.
 
I don't think hunters are willing to pay the $$$ per round,
Click to expand...

Why would I pay more for a bullet that can kill a deer if I just point a rifle in the vicinity of one? I might as well pay a friend, who is a better shot than I am, less money to sit up in a tree stand and bag a deer for me while I'm still sleeping back at camp.
 
Skans said:
Why would I pay more for a bullet that can kill a deer if I just point a rifle in the vicinity of one? I might as well pay a friend, who is a better shot than I am, less money to sit up in a tree stand and bag a deer for me while I'm still sleeping back at camp.
Click to expand...
Well legally you cant have your friend do that. And remmeber not everyone can shoot. Even with a scope
 
TXAZ said:
On both XACTO and our commercial venture, both use an IR (changeable) laser, one is pulsed the other is CW.
The commercial venture gun mod est cost was a few hundred $'s. The bullets in initial production would be OM $100 each. Expensive for a deer, cheap for certain others. Higher production rates would bring cost down to $30-50 per round. The commercial round requires rifling, I suspect the same for XACTO.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the info.

I'm a bit puzzled by the requirement for a rifled barrel, unless the bullet is spin-stabilized at first, and the fins deploy later in its flight, as described here. If the bullet is fin-steered from the get-go, it seems to me that one would need a smooth bore, as in the design described here.
 
Was chatting with a PR person from the .gov about this (patient's visitor) he told me that they use a 50 calibre smoothbore not a rifled barrel for the XACTO System.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top