Holy Toledo! They done invented my “Roger Rabbit Bullet”.
It seems that they have invented the “guided bullet” that homes in on its target. Wow, that is neat. The only problem, according to the article above is that it has to see a laser target designator in order to home in on the target and then it can only hit a circle with an 8-inch radius around the laser point.
Shoot, it doesn’t quite reach the fire and forget stage where you tell the bullet what target to hit and where to hit it. Also, it is an awfully big bullet (.50 caliber and about four inches long). I will bet your shoulder hurts when that baby goes off. And when it hits somebody, they really will know that they have been tagged.
Of course, it is only for snipers and really effective only at extreme ranges. I guess that means that the poor snuffies on the line will have to do with the old unguided bullets for a long time because they do their shooting at ranges that you don’t need a laser target designator to spot the target; you just point and shoot.
Of course, that is the problem with small arms. The projectile is just too small to integrate all those fancy devices that can guide to hit what you want it to hit. You see, nowadays, when you shoot a pistol or a rifle at short ranges, you really don’t have time to mess with telescopic sights. I mean those sights are helpful, and the attached laser designators are really nifty assistance, but up close and personal, it is less about accuracy as it is about volume and weight of your fire power.
That is what makes war so impersonal. You see, when you fire a bullet, it only goes off basically in a straight line in the direction you have your muzzle pointed. The bullet doesn’t care really what gets in its way. People, property, dirt, it is all the same to the bullet. It will just hit it with whatever velocity and mass that it has and let that energy do the work.
IF the first shot doesn’t take the target down, hit again, and again, and again, as fast as you can and hopefully the cumulative effect will be able to do the job. The problem being that with all those unguided objects flying through the air, they really are only addressed to the occupant of the space through which it passes.
Now, trained soldiers usually can do a fair job of using whatever sighting devices to maintain a certain amount of accuracy, but studies have shown that that accuracy declines as the adrenaline flow goes up as incoming rounds get closer and closer. This is strictly a human thing and is hard to overcome.
Still, bullets, being bullets, really don’t care who or what they hurt. They just do it.
Maybe someday, the Dumb-Dumbs from the Roger Rabbit movie will become Smart-Smarts, but I doubt we will see that anytime soon.
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