Self-guided bullets are now a thing

Those seven words have sharp-shooters shivering in their boots. Researchers at Sandia National Laboratories have developed a laser-guided bullet. From the Washington Post: “At 4 inches long and a half-inch in diameter, the bullet directs itself like a tiny guided missile and can hit a target more than a mile away. It’s designed to twist and turn, making up to 30 corrections per second.” Tucked on board each .50-caliber bullet is an optical sensor that follows a laser beam locked on the target.

Sandia hasn’t started mass-producing the bullets. It’s currently looking for a buyer. When I first read about this, the image of a gun-toting soldier squinting through a view finder in the desert came to mind. But really that’s yesterday’s battlefield. Think about what happens when laser-guided bullets are strapped on to nano quadrocopters. This is future war.