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EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

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Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#111

Post by tptacek »

fragsworth wrote: post #110
rayiner wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The basis of American freedom isn't some libertarians with rifles. Its the fact that the U.S. military consists of poorly-paid kids who care more about family and community than they do about abstract ideas. That and the fact that the military and its arsenal is physicislly distributed over numerous states. More powerful military technology makes us more free, not less. It just means it takes fewer people to break ra…

Look at what the U.S. military has been doing - they're effectively well paid mercenaries. For the last 60 years, hardly anyone in the military has had a vested interest in any of the conflicts, and does it just for the money.

That describes zero of the people I've met who serve in the armed forces.

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#112

Post by edwhitesell »

dm2 wrote: post #105
fractalsea wrote: post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may explain how the target corrects its trajectory towards the actual target, but how does the bullet determine what the "actual target" is in the first place? I would imagine this would be simple in test cases, but in the real world, what about a hostile target may differentiate it from a friendly ally that is nearby?

Some new rifles allow you to "tag" targets and with sufficiently advanced software it should be able to tell the difference, unless the two targets overlap, then it's a maybe. Sniper rifles already exist that can tag and track moving targets.

Tracking Point: http://money.cnn.com/2013/06/11/news/companies/trackingpoint...

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#113

Post by edwhitesell »

iandanforth wrote: post #78

I imagine you pair this with a Tracking Point ( http://tracking-point.com/ ) rifle and you'll get some impressive performance. Thinking through how this would work .. would the sniper's spotter also become the painter? Or would it take a team of three Sniper+Spotter+Painter to combine these two technologies?

You could probably use the Spotter as the Painter in the scenarios where there's s Sniper and a Spotter (e.g. SEALs don't use Spotters, whereas Army SF does).

However, having a Spotter in a different location than the Sniper (or Sniper + Spotter team) leads to other interesting capabilities. Things like, "I have the target marked, based on your current GPS position, just aim to the West."

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#114

Post by edwhitesell »

gamegoblin wrote: post #82
melvinmt wrote: post #80

I wonder if there are any startups in weapon technology.

AFAIK Boston Dynamics was a decently small company that produces cool military tech. (Now bought by Google). Also, there was a small company that had a show on the Discovery Channel for ~2 seasons called Howe & Howe Tech that produced a cool lightweight continuous track vehicle.

They actually produced a number of tracked vehicles and I see some new information after visiting their site too. Thanks for the reminder!

http://www.howeandhowe.com/

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#115

Post by sosborn »

ErikRogneby wrote: post #27

I wonder what each bullet will cost once production starts? I sometimes think about the origins of the second amendment and if it's intent was to empower citizens against a potentially oppressive government then it has failed. US military technology might as well be black magic. What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc? Thank goodness we are kept fat and happy.

>What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc?

First of all, have you seen how much of a fight low tech militias have put up against the U.S. lately?

Secondly, don't forget that the people trained to use that technology are U.S. citizens too and will fight for their family before they fight for their county (most of them anyway).

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#116

Post by Shivetya »

sosborn wrote: post #115
ErikRogneby wrote: post #27

I wonder what each bullet will cost once production starts? I sometimes think about the origins of the second amendment and if it's intent was to empower citizens against a potentially oppressive government then it has failed. US military technology might as well be black magic. What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc? Thank goodness we are kept fat and happy.

>What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc? First of all, have you seen how much of a fight low tech militias have put up against the U.S. lately? Secondly, don't forget that the people trained to use that technology are U.S. citizens too and will fight for their family before they fight for their county (most of them anyway).

There is one thing to note about the "difficulty" the modern US military has faced versus low tech militias. The US military has been required to exercise due caution so as not to cause significant collateral damage.

The trade off is lives saved today versus those lost tomorrow. If WW2 had been fought the same way it may have taken years longer. You do not end support for an enemy until you beat the population that supports them. There is no infinite number in resistance, ww2 proved that.

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#117

Post by wmeredith »

jloughry wrote: post #77
wmeredith wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A laser is unaffected by things like gravity, recoil, wind, dust particles, drag, etc... Also, if it's a line of site issue. The sniper could be out of the line of site and as long as the laser operator can put light on target, it still gets hit (theoretically).

A laser is affected by temperature differences in the air (think about the mirage seen over a hot road surface) and even by gravity; a laser beam drops over distance like a bullet or a baseball, only it travels so fast that the effect is unnoticeable over earth-scale distances. The effect of a temperature inversion, though, can be significant; it's possible that military laser designators use diverse wavelengths to a…

Yes, yes, your technically correct (the best kind of correct?) but compared to a bullet arching through the air, it's minimal.

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#118

Post by elmin »

beachstartup wrote: post #75
mikeyouse wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That may be true, but the harder parts about being a sniper get a lot easier if you're as accurate from a mile as today's snipers are from 200M.

i don't know... i think the missions will just get harder. or remain just as hard, to up the success %.

Yes, either of those would make the project a success, no?

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#119

Post by vacri »

sosborn wrote: post #115
ErikRogneby wrote: post #27

I wonder what each bullet will cost once production starts? I sometimes think about the origins of the second amendment and if it's intent was to empower citizens against a potentially oppressive government then it has failed. US military technology might as well be black magic. What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc? Thank goodness we are kept fat and happy.

>What can a "well regulated militia" do against smart bullets, M1 Abrams, Apache helicopters, etc? First of all, have you seen how much of a fight low tech militias have put up against the U.S. lately? Secondly, don't forget that the people trained to use that technology are U.S. citizens too and will fight for their family before they fight for their county (most of them anyway).

There's no government that would turn the US military against the US population. It just wouldn't happen. What is happening though is the militarisation of the police, and making it more and more 'normal' for the population to accept it. The idea of a national army being turned against it's own people is hopelessly outdated in the modern, western world. There are more efficient and more subtle ways to control the population.

Re: EXACTO demonstrates first-ever guided .50-caliber bullets

#120

Post by jloughry »

wmeredith wrote: post #117
jloughry wrote: post #77

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A laser is affected by temperature differences in the air (think about the mirage seen over a hot road surface) and even by gravity; a laser beam drops over distance like a bullet or a baseball, only it travels so fast that the effect is unnoticeable over earth-scale distances. The effect of a temperature inversion, though, can be significant; it's possible that military laser designators use diverse wavelengths to a…

Yes, yes, your technically correct (the best kind of correct?) but compared to a bullet arching through the air, it's minimal.

After thinking about it more, I realised you're absolutely right. It doesn't matter if the laser designator beam takes a knuckleball path through the intervening air; if the laser dot is on target---classical optics are time-reversible---the shooter will see it on target. The effect of those same air density variations on the bullet is similarly irrelevant [1], because the bullet continually aims for the laser dot.

It works by negative feedback, like a servo; all the error terms in the middle cancel out. Neat!

[1] The refraction of a laser by air density variations is bound to be different from the ballistic effects of those same density variations on a bullet passing through them. But it doesn't matter, because the corrections are applied continually along the trajectory, not at the source.

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