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New Sniper Rifles Boost Range, Accuracy

Pirate standoff calls attention to classified Pentagon project

By Ambreen Ali, Newser User

Posted Apr 16, 2009 10:27 AM CDT

(Newser) – The M107 sniper rifle is enjoying its pirate-fueled moment in the sun, but don't get used to it: Firearms being developed in a super-secret Pentagon program will extend snipers' range from 800 or so meters to more than 2,000 without losing accuracy, Time reports. What's more, bullets created under the auspices of the $22 million project will fly themselves by changing shape.

The number of military snipers employed annually has tripled, and improving their equipment would lower the chances of variables such as weather impeding a shot. Development of the EXACTO rifles may yield workable models by 2015. "The EXACTO would be revolutionary," says a former Army sniper trainer. "It will more than double our range and probably more than double our accuracy."

[Images (3)]

[Quotes (1)]

Snipers from the British Army's 16 Air Assault Brigade with the latest weapon in their armory, the Long Range Rifle L115A3, at a range in southern England. (AP Photo/ Chris Ison, PA)

Snipers "are unable to take a shot the vast majority of the time," the solicitation for super-sniper rifle research states. (AP Photo/The Canadian Press, Sean Kilpatrick)

Soldiers stand with their rifles in Iraq. Longer range rifles will help troops remain hidden and hit moving objects more accurately. (AP Photo/Joe Higgins)

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Specific system performance objectives (e.g., range, accuracy and target speed) are classified. - The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's request for proposals to develop a new sniper rifle

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New Sniper Rifles Boost Range, Accuracy