Laser guided bullet works like a laser guided bomb
Technology Correspondent
Jun. 1, 2012

At Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, Mew Mexico, a team of engineers , is ­completing a prototype of the world’s first laser-guided ­bullet. This technology has some of the same computerized control and guidance features found on laser-guided bombs. 
P> An infrared laser illuminates a target, which the bullet’s optical sensors follow. An on board tracking chip calculates the course corrections, carried out by four actuator-controlled fins on the bullet’s body.

The bullet, according to project leaders at Sandia National Lab improves its shooter’s marksmanship by more than 90 percent, at distances of up to 2 kilometers. 


Launch tests found that the munition’s innards did indeed stand up to the crushing 120000 g-force acceleration and 344.7 megapascals (50000 pounds per square inch) of pressure as the bullet comes hurtling out of the barrel.

The next step is to find a commercial partner that can turn the ideas now being bench-tested into a field-ready bullet. 


Laser guided bullet works like a laser guided bomb
Technology Correspondent
At Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, Mew Mexico, a team of engineers , is ­completing a prototype of the world’s first laser-guided ­bullet.
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