New Sniper Rifles Boost Range, Accuracy

Pirate standoff calls attention to classified Pentagon project

By Ambreen Ali, Newser Staff

Posted Apr 16, 2009 10:27 AM CDT

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New Sniper Rifles Boost Range, Accuracy — 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)

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."
(More sniper stories.)

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