The drone of the future may be designed to drop supplies then vaporize.
Imagine a drone flying stealthily through light cloud cover in the wee hours of the morning. In it, a flock of unpowered drones strapped with provisions like food, batteries, electrical components, and medical supplies. The unmanned aircraft then reaches a classified coordinate and releases the unpowered drones, which pilot themselves to a handful of SEALs or Green Berets on the ground. The drones then vaporize to remove any trace of the transaction or location of the ground forces. This may sound like something Q would be cautioning James Bond not to use to express a love interest, but this is in fact being developed right here in the United States. It’s part of the Department of Defense’s “disappearing delivery vehicle” program. The idea is that the less items that troops need to carry, the more endurance and agility they will have. They’ll also be able to go on an extended stake-out that’s within reach. The name of the project is ICARUS, in reference to the Greek mythological hero who flew too close to the sun sporting wings made of wax.
With 8 million dollars to spend on the project, lots of the development is being contracted to a number of companies, including a firm out of San Francisco called Otherlab. They’re looking into cardboard as a viable material and are currently performing tests within FAA regulations. To paraphrase Troy Olssen, the ICARUS program manager, the dream would be to build a self-piloting glider that carries about three to five pounds for 150 to 200 kilometers and lands within 10 meters of its target, then vanishes within four hours.
The specific manner of how the drone would vanish was not articulated.
Ideally, the Department of Defense would like to see the drone cost be somewhere in the range of $250 to a few thousand dollars each. Those figures need to include the guidance and navigation systems on each aircraft. Competing programs are looking into using parachutes, but experts say they lack the same level of precision, and precision is what you want on the battlefield.
What are your thoughts? Do you think this technology could also help those in natural disasters or remote areas?
