Re:The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unrepo...
by pault on Thursday June 13, 2019 @03:12AM
(#20172447)
How does a guided bullet work? I always thought that was one of those perpetually ten years away kind of things.
Re:The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unrepo...
by burfog on Thursday June 13, 2019 @03:48AM
(#20172600)
They aren't saying as far as I can tell, except that it receives an optical signal at the rear. Some people are assuming it has fins, but none are visible in diagrams. Beginners can hit moving targets at extreme ranges.
http://bulletin.accurateshooter.com/2018/07/guided-50-calibe...
https://www.darpa.mil/news-events/2015-04-27
Sandia National Laboratories did something similar, but with a non-standard rifle and using a laser target designator. Russia is attempting to do something similar.
Re:The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unrepo...
by dTal on Thursday June 13, 2019 @09:36AM
(#20174685)
From your first link: "Inside EXACTO bullets are optical guidance systems, aero-actuation controls, and multiple sensors"
Of course that could all be a lie to throw adversaries off the scent, but the trouble with trying to keep a bullet top-secret is the moment you use it, the enemy has as many as they want to study...
Re:The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unrepo...
by anchpop on Thursday June 13, 2019 @11:47AM
(#20175994)
Could it contain a charge or instability that destroys the useful innovations when it strikes the target, to prevent that? Even regular bullets look deformed when they hit something, it seems like if you want to slow down enemy research you could exploit that
Re:The Pentagon is battling the clock to fix serious, unrepo...
by TeMPOraL on Thursday June 13, 2019 @06:22AM
(#20173299)
> Some people are assuming it has fins, but none are visible in diagrams.
Many years ago I saw a concept of a guided machine gun bullet in a "scientific" magazine; the concept involved steering by a mechanism that moved a lump of mass within the bullet around.
For the tanks, the A-10 carries the AGM-65 Maverick with 136 kg (300 lb) of explosives.
Upgrading the gun would be useful. We can now make even the 12.7 mm ammunition have guidance, so 30 mm should be easy. We could compensate for the density reduction by upgrading to something like the 37 mm used by the MiG-17. Guidance would allow targeting the most vulnerable parts of a tank. The toughest modern tank still relies on vulnerable sensors. One could also just pound the same spot many times, chipping out a hole. Reactive armor is nothing if you can get a second shot in the same location.