If there’s an overarching theme for weapons research at the U.S. Department of Defense research agency DARPA it’s this: You can run, but you can’t hide. DARPA researchers have recently tested homing bullets that maneuver themselves in-flight to hit moving targets from long distance. Researchers first tested the Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) earlier this year, and expert, as well as novice, marksmen consistently hit a target from hundreds of yards away.
DARPA isn’t spilling the beans about how their bullets work, but we do know a few broad strokes. The EXACTO is a .50 caliber round — about the size of a Sharpie permanent marker — and is used in long-range sniper rifles and machine guns. An EXACTO homing bullet utilizes a real-time, optical guidance system to identify a target and keep it in its sights. It uses some sort of onboard mechanism to control its flight and correct ...
