Dodging sniper bullets, which are already hard to dodge when they're aimed well, may just get even harder, or even impossible to do.  Thinking that movement would even make you a harder target for the sniper may prove useless if DARPA's Project EXACTO gets the full-speed ahead. EXACTO is the ongoing project to develop a self-guiding bullet.

We have first reported about EXACTO in 2012, which is being developed by SANDIA Laboratories, here on Popular Airsoft and we have wondered what happened to it two years after. The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance (EXACTO) program is a .50 caliber bullet being developed for trained snipers, making them even deadlier and extremely accurate in shooting with this bullet as they can shoot at impossible angles and even at moving targets. With a .50 caliber EXACTO bullet fired from a rifle such as the Barrett M82 or the M107, extreme distances can be achieved and can even take out some vehicles, and perhaps even some low flying aircraft such as helicopters (or perhaps even faster aircraft).

The EXACTO program is not on the same principle as the XACT Tracking Point System but both have the same objective of making accurate shots easier. While the XACT System is an aiming and tracking system and also gives high degree of accuracy even for the untrained shooter, EXACTO is an Ordnance, meaning the ammo or the bullet guides itself to the target.

The .50 caliber bullet is 4-inches long and is packed with an optical sensor, CPU, actuator and a battery. When a laser is shone on a target the bullet then is steered by the actuators with the fins that change the direction of the bullet as the target changes in movement and distance, making corrections in trajectory at 30 times a second.

The video below shows the bullet successfully test-fired, making the corrections in mid-flight even if it was aimed off target. You'll see the corrections done by the bullet as it flies dead on target.

This is still Phase II of prototyping and the results of tests are very positive.  The bullet is continually being improved in terms of guidance system, power source, controls, and sensors. If there are still some next steps to actual approval for production, then we are not aware of these. The EXACTO bullet, if it really becomes part of a sniper's ammo choices, would become a force multiplier. It would demoralize if they become aware that their opponent can just pick them off easily from great distances at will with just a precision guide bullet rather than a very expensive smart bomb delivered by an even more expensive aircraft.