Guided Bullet Tested

[Waitone]

Interesting technical article.  Seems Sandia is working on a guided bullet for the military.  No so much a bullet as it is a miniature rocket.  Anyway, the picture is impressive.
http://www.wired.com/dangerroom/2012/01/self-guided-bulle/

[never_retreat]

Kind of like the failed Gyrojet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gyrojet

[HankB]

Not really a rocket - it sounds like it's functionally a miniaturized M712 Copperhead projectile, without the explosive payload. At 4" in length, one wonders what kind of "rifle" it's going to be fired from.

Article isn't very accurate about the capabilities of ace marksmen either - at a half mile (880 yards) I wouldn't expect expect a good shooter to miss his target by something in the neighborhood of thirty feet.

[geronimotwo]

a 30 foot miss at a 1/2 mile would be pretty extreme conditions, or very poor trigger control.  i wonder where that stat came from?  i have never shot more than 300 yards, but even in gusty conditions it is hard to miss by more than a foot.  i don't care for the "technology overcomes lack of discipline" mentality.  i wonder what the cost per shot will be?

[Pharmacology]

Not really a rocket - it sounds like it's functionally a miniaturized M712 Copperhead projectile, without the explosive payload. At 4" in length, one wonders what kind of "rifle" it's going to be fired from.

Article isn't very accurate about the capabilities of ace marksmen either - at a half mile (880 yards) I wouldn't expect expect a good shooter to miss his target by something in the neighborhood of thirty feet.

I remember reading that this caught the attention of military brass after those SEALs popped those pirates in their heads from the deck of one bobbing ship to another.

So, I think that's what the gun-illiterate authors are referring to:  ship to ship marksmanship.

[Northwoods]

They've had guided artillery projecticles for quite a while.  I never worked on them personally, but they had a group dedicated to such weapons when I worked at Raytheon Missiles in Tucson 10 years ago.

[CypherNinja]

At 4" in length, one wonders what kind of "rifle" it's going to be fired from.

Guessing from what's briefly visible of the bullet 4 seconds into that video, a .50 cal could probably handle it. You would have to accommodate either a longer OAL, meaning semi-auto's are out unless custom, or a a large(ish) amount of projectile protrusion into the case. Probably not too bad overall, though. Absolute worst case scenario would probably be a reworked something or other akin to Barrett's 25mm prototype.

Remember, the bullet's are probably going to get smaller as well.

[French G.]

Wake me up when we can just roll over in bed and tell the gun to "Sic Hippie!" and then resume relaxing.

[S. Williamson]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pxjnl1yuXk

 

[Devonai]

As much as I love that film, this one has you beat by a few years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZY9Z6WvSY

[zahc]

The article says it uses an 8 bit microcontroller. I'm trying to calculate if such a processing plant could be fast enough.

I know you can run an AVR at 20MHz. That's 1/20th of a microsecond per cycle. Most instructions take only one or two cycles. Call it 10us to run a tight guidance loop. 3000fps / 10us = 3cm. So yeah, a common microcontroller is fast enough. Wow, I forget how fast common electronics are.

[Perd Hapley]

As much as I love that film, this one has you beat by a few years:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zCZY9Z6WvSY

Ha! Gene Simmons. 

[kgbsquirrel]

Not really a rocket - it sounds like it's functionally a miniaturized M712 Copperhead projectile, without the explosive payload. At 4" in length, one wonders what kind of "rifle" it's going to be fired from.

I imagine something like a NTW-20 if it's going to be larger than .50 caliber. Any bolt action really with a long enough magazine (or just a single shot) and a barrel chambered with a long enough throat will accommodate cartridges with overly long projectiles.

[Sergeant Bob]

They've had guided artillery projecticles for quite a while.  I never worked on them personally, but they had a group dedicated to such weapons when I worked at Raytheon Missiles in Tucson 10 years ago.

Like the projectiles for the Palladin at $100,000 a pop?

[kgbsquirrel]

Scratch my previous statement about barrel design. It seems these are made for smoothbore, and are essentially an FSDS with moving fins unlike the copper-head and excalibur projectiles.

I could see first use of these being applied to IFV's and MBT's in order to ensure first-shot hits. Take the 25mm off the M3 Bradley, replace it with a smoothbore version with a laser designator, and now every single shot hits the target no matter if the target suddenly jinks throwing off your lead, or the wind sudden gusts hard, etc. This wound also significantly extend the accurate range of the Rheinmetall 120mm.

[lee n. field]

Interesting.  Fiction meets fact.

Vernor Vinge in his novel The Peace War, has as a minor plot device a self guided bullet, cheap enough to use in an AK.

[zahc]

I read The Peace War recently, and I don't remember guided bullets.

[Northwoods]

Like the projectiles for the Palladin at $100,000 a pop?

Note sure if they were for the Palladin specifically but that price range sounds about right.

[lee n. field]

I read The Peace War recently, and I don't remember guided bullets.

My recollection is, minor plot point, kids in Cali woods encounter a party of Peace Authority somebody or other.  Gunfire is exchanged.  Kid shoots wildly, but all shots hit.  Peacers later analyze the encounter, note that a disposable bullet has as much computing power as an expensive something or other they'd fit in a suitcase, and begin to realize they're outclassed technologically.

My recollection is from the Analog serial.  Perhaps the book version is different.

[zahc]

Oh yeah. I remember that part now.