An already deadly invention is becoming more efficient at killing.

A project to allow bullets to be manoeuvred around obstacles has refined its accuracy, military experts have announced.

Law enforcement and recreational shooters would be “potential customers”, as well as the military, said the researchers working for the Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).

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“Potential customers for the bullet include the military, law enforcement and recreational shooters,” said a press release from Sandia, a Lockheed Martin subsidiary.

A “live-fire demonstration” shot the rounds from a standard rifle, which showed that the bullet is able to hit moving targets “with extreme accuracy at sniper ranges”, which standard guns and bullets would not be able to achieve, DARPA technical officer Jerome Dunn said.

Advances in self-guided bullets have been shown off on YouTube as the EXACTO project gets more accurate since its announcement in January 2012.

Targets can be hit with a laser pointer from a great distance, which gives the self-guided bullet a bright mark to hit.

Optical sensors embedded in nose of the bullet relay with control mechanisms which moves fins on the ten-inch projectile to steer it towards its target.

The weapon can be guided up to two-kilometres away and corrections can be made up to 30-times a second, researchers said.

“We don’t have to be as precise each time,” researcher Red Jones said.

The weapon could reduce civilian casualties, said a research fellow at UK thinktank the Royal United Services Institute, Elizabeth Quintana.

“This would be a revolution for ground forces, and may help further cut down on civilian casualties in future conflicts,” Ms Quintana told the BBC.