The EXACTO: Gun Pr0n Extraordinaire
By Wyatt Earp | April 16, 2009
One shot. One kill.
Oooh, baby! I want one! *drools*
The three Navy SEAL snipers who killed the pirates off the coast of Somalia last weekend were lucky the buccaneers were gullible enough to allow their lifeboat to be towed farther out to sea by the U.S.S. Bainbridge. The shortened towline turned what could have been a trio of difficult shots across hundreds of yards of ocean into relatively easy 30-yd. pops. It’s a safe bet future pirates won’t be so naive. But the Pentagon is drawing up a project to make it easier to hit targets at much longer distances: a super-sniper rifle called the EXACTO, short for EXtreme ACcuracy Tasked Ordnance.
This, my friends, is why America is the greatest country in the world.
The highly-classified EXACTO program began a year ago, when the U.S. military’s band of scientists and engineers at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — which played a key role in the creation of both the Internet and GPS — let the military-industrial complex know it was seeking a supergun. “The ability to more accurately prosecute targets at significantly longer range would provide a dramatic new capability to the U.S. military,” DARPA’S solicitation for bids said. “The use of an actively controlled bullet will make it possible to counter environmental effects such as crosswinds and air density, and prosecute both stationary and moving targets while enhancing shooter covertness.”
It’s like Eraser, without the annoying Vanessa Williams. And I thought Al Gore invented the Internet, not DARPA!
The new .50 caliber gun and improved scope could employ “fire and forget” technologies including “fin-stabilized projectiles, spin-stabilized projectiles, internal and/or external aero-actuation control methods, projectile guidance technologies, tamper proofing, small stable power supplies, and advanced sighting, optical resolution and clarity technologies.” In other words, bullets that, once fired at a specific target, fly themselves into it by changing shape. The new gun should be no heavier than the combined 46-lb. weight of the current $11,500 M107 sniper rifle and all its associated gear (including ammo, tripod, scope and slide rules for target calculations).
Oh, dear sweet baby Jesus, this sounds completely kickass! Does anyone else need a cigarette?
In November, DARPA awarded Lockheed Martin $12.3 million and Teledyne Scientific & Imaging $9.5 million to begin work on the new weapon. If various technical hurdles are cleared, it could be available sometime around 2015. (H/T – TIME)
I am now setting my alarm clock for 2015. I want to be the first kid on my block with a confirmed EXACTO kill! Heh.
Topics: Gun Pr0n | 8 Comments »
April 16th, 2009 at 5:53 pm
I really has been a long time since any new gun technology has been rolled out.
My custom Remington 700 is probably the most accurate gun I own, but this….sounds like a whole new flavor of hitting your target.
I want one too. I also want my target seeking ammo under $100 per thousand.
April 16th, 2009 at 11:56 pm
I would bet, that no matter what the technology, of weapon or ammunition, that the shooter will still not be up to the best the weapon and ammunition can do, normally. Having watched, studied and thought about it for years – the price of perfection will overcome good enough, and one will worry about cost above effective use. How long after the shooters were in place did it take for the bullets to strike the pirates (time being money)? That just proves my point, other Somali pirates would have killed them so much faster in a confrontation the world wouldn’t have noticed. I will always bet on the man when needed over the technology.
April 17th, 2009 at 1:07 am
Soooo…I wonder if they’ll let me borrow one for my zombie movie? lol
April 17th, 2009 at 12:26 pm
Kaveman – Probably not gonna happen anytime soon.
Earl – True enough, but technology can certainly add an assist.
DL474 – If they do, you need a bikini babe using it. Send me the photos!
April 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Horses for courses. If you want head count and don’t mind being killed you need fast rate of fire, light, cheap, robust, easy to use. AK47 or similar suits that very well. THE jihadist weapon of death and fear.
If you want one-off surgical precision, where you want to get your target for certain and miss someone next door then this sounds amazing. The Israeli and American weapon of choice with the bare-minimum collateral damage.
April 17th, 2009 at 6:31 pm
I’ve been involved in this game for 35 years. I build rifles for target shooters and occasionally for the USMC and the Army Marksmenship unit.
The teck has come a long way since the late 70’s when I first quoted this project. There is today a plethora of better science to achieve this goal today. I still do not think ANY of it can match what a good spotter and rifleman are capable of. Total waste of federal dollars.
If you are not a student of your bullet of choice, you miss.
Alan Warner
April 18th, 2009 at 1:35 am
“The new gun should be no heavier than the combined 46-lb. weight of the current $11,500 M107 sniper rifle and all its associated gear (including ammo, tripod, scope and slide rules for target calculations).”Slide rules?! Ummm, last time I checked, spotters were using electronic ballistic calculators to determine drift, windage and drop. WTF?
April 20th, 2009 at 11:19 pm
Kaveman, $100 / thousand… goodluck dude.
You’re probably looking at closer to $100 / SHOT.
–Jim