The United States department of defence has successfully tested a bullet that can change direction after it has been fired, apparently using fins built into the shell to direct it in the air and account for wind and targets moving.

The Extreme Accuracy Tasked Ordnance weapon, known as Exacto, is made by American industrial company Teledyne Technologies. The firm is making the bullet for the American government’s military research agency, Darpa.

A video made by the company shows the bullet being fired twice, deliberately off target. The second time it swings back in towards the target and hits. The companies involve have not disclosed how the bullet works, but it is thought to have small fins that redirect its path. The sniper shines a laser at the target, which the bullet then follows as it moves through the air. That stops the complicated adjustments that snipers have to make for wind, weather, the dip of the bullet as it flies through the air and any movement by the target, and could mean that snipers’ targets could be hit from much further away. The record kill by a sniper rifle stands at 8,120 feet. That was done by UK soldier Craig Harrison in 2010, during the war in Afghanistan.