$17,000 Linux-powered rifle brings “auto-aim” to the real world

[menotu]

What is a PGF?

The Precision Guided Firearm (PGF) developed by TrackingPoint is the most accurate shooting system in the world. Called the Xact System™, it solves multiple problems that long-range shooters face. The XactSystem ensures repeatable performance and accuracy even at extended ranges.

The PGF also offers applications for smart devices. These apps interact with embedded wifi servers to share real-time or recorded images.

http://tracking-point.com/what-is-a-pgf

TrackingPoint Demonstration

and from Arstechica

TrackingPoint makes "Precision Guided Firearms, or "PGFs," which are a series of three heavily customized hunting rifles, ranging from a .300 Winchester Magnum with a 22-inch barrel up to a .338 Lapua Magnum with 27-inch barrel, all fitted with advanced computerized scopes that look like something directly out of The Terminator. Indeed, the comparison to that movie is somewhat apt, because looking through the scope of a Precision Guided Firearm presents you with a collection of data points and numbers, all designed to get a bullet directly from point A to point B.



The PGF isn't just a fancy scope on top of a rifle. All together, the PGF is made up of a firearm, a modified trigger mechanism with variable weighting, the computerized digital tracking scope, and hand-loaded match grade rounds (which you need to purchase from TrackingPoint). This is a little like selling both the razor and the razor blades, but the rounds must be manufactured to tight tolerances since precise guidance of a round to a target by the rifle's computer requires that the round perform within known boundaries.



http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/01/17000-linux-powered-rifle-brings-auto-aim-to-the-real-world/

[Just17]

As if we needed more efficient ways to kill people/animals/ ...   

[NoIBnds]

As if we needed more efficient ways to kill people/animals/ ...   

YES-- Great for the Military!!! 

[weirdwolf]

Is this for people who don't think they still need to learn how to shoot ? Sorry but I don't see that scope lasting too long in the field. I'm reasonably sure that any organizational that could afford a program that incorporates such hardware would also be capable of loading their own match grade ammo as well, at a fraction of the cost of theirs.
The rifle is available from Accuracy International. Add a decent scope and it comes in a little over half of that 17 grand. (I'm thinking around 9 grand IIRC)   

[menotu]

by Lee Hutchinson - Apr 1, 2013  - arstechnica

Bullseye from 1,000 yards: Shooting the $17,000 Linux-powered rifle

ARM CPUs, lasers, and Wi-Fi make firing this weapon an experience like no other.

My photographer, Steve, squints through a computerized scope squatting atop a big hunting rifle. We're outdoors at a range just north of Austin, Texas, and the wind is blowing like crazy—enough so that we're having to dial in more and more wind adjustment on the rifle's computer. The spotter and I monitor Steve's sight through an iPad linked to the rifle via Wi-Fi, and we can see exactly what he's seeing through the scope. Steve lines up on his target downrange—a gently swinging metal plate with a fluorescent orange circle painted at its center—and depresses a button to illuminate it with the rifle's laser.

"Good tag?" he asks, softly.

"Good tag," replies the spotter, watching on the iPad. He leaves the device in my hands and looks through a conventional high-powered spotting scope at the target Steve has selected. The wind stops momentarily. "Send it," he calls out.

Steve pulls the trigger, but nothing immediately happens. On the iPad's screen, his reticle shifts from blue to red and drifts toward the marked target. Even though I'm expecting it, the rifle's report is startling when it fires.

A second later, the spotter calls out, "That's a hit!"

http://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2013/03/bullseye-from-1000-yards-shooting-the-17000-linux-powered-rifle/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+arstechnica%2Findex+%28Ars+Technica+-+All+content%29

[µT6]

to hunt animals?

this technology only will be used to kill people at longer distances

at least they can't kill accidentally the guy next to the target and say that it wasn't their fault 

[The Chief]

to hunt animals?

Yep - two legged or four legged.

this technology only will be used to kill people at longer distances

Or to let you stay alive while taking out the bad guys (those two legged animals).

at least they can't kill accidentally the guy next to the target and say that it wasn't their fault 

And isn't that a good thing?  He could always use a howitzer - an old antique howitzer...

It's a tool, an improved tool.  It has no morals, no more than Lizzie Borden's ax.  It's all up to the user.

[parnote]

It's a tool, an improved tool.  It has no morals, no more than Lizzie Borden's ax.  It's all up to the user.

+1!

[µT6]

"Yep - two legged or four legged."



you are right, this thing can't exist a single more minute

"Or to let you stay alive while taking out the bad guys"

i know that budget for army can go crazy, but give a scope that expensive just to provide cover? sorry, one shot one kill

[kjpetrie]

How sad, to see our beloved OS used to kill people.

Is there no end to the human ability to corrupt what is good?

It will be the terrorists and the professional hit men who will pay for these weapons.

[Old-Polack]

How sad, to see our beloved OS used to kill people.

Is there no end to the human ability to corrupt what is good?

It will be the terrorists and the professional hit men who will pay for these weapons.

Got my order in. Retirement sucks... everyone needs a day job! 

[µT6]

"How sad, to see our beloved OS used to kill people."

it could be worse, it could be using windows

imagine a swap team trying to save a hostage using this scope and suddenly this

[Just17]

Scoundrel might trade in his hammer ........     

[The Chief]

i know that budget for army can go crazy, but give a scope that expensive just to provide cover? sorry, one shot one kill

Well, they could send in a half billion dollar fast mover to take out the guy.

Actually, I would expect the cost to come down in mass production - I say mass with some reservations.  Having been in the defense industry, I know that the military will often contract for you to build some super widget that never existed before, promising you all sorts of profits on the production if you'll eat part of the development cost. 

And then, when it comes time to award the production contract, you find out they only want twenty!  Been there, done that.  And in one case it was even worse - they only wanted six!

[Crow]

I think is a worst sin to kill animals with this type of gadgets than to kill terrorists or other bad guys, the problems arises with the people that decide who is a bad guy and at what interests are serving when they do that.

As long as there are less Osamas, less cartel bosses and the technology doesn't get in the hands of them (which I doubt, because in the end it is a business trying to sell) is fine with me.