Thread: US Defense Agency Wants Battlespace To Combat Russia And China Hypersonic Weapons

US Defense Agency Wants Battlespace To Combat Russia And China Hypersonic Weapons



Current missile interceptors are not designed to defend against hypersonic missiles..

Tue, 09/18/2018 - 00:15

The US Missile Defense Agency (MDA) submitted a request for highly maneuvrable Mach 5 missile interceptors to combat the hypersonic threat from Russia and China. The solicitation was submitted to the Department of Defense (DOD) Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Program, a congressionally mandated program coordinated by the Small Business Administration (SBA) to obtain innovative defense solutions from private industry to address defense technology gaps.

"The technology within this topic is restricted under the International Traffic in Arms Regulation (ITAR), which controls the export and import of defense-related material and services. Offerors must disclose any proposed use of foreign nationals, their country of origin, and what tasks each would accomplish in the statement of work in accordance with section 5.4.c.( 8 ) of the Announcement," said the MDA.

According to the description of the solicitation, the MDA is searching for hypersonic missiles that have extraordinary aerodynamic controls to intercept Russian or Chinese hypersonic weapons.

"Concepts should focus on maximizing maneuverability and minimizing kinetic energy losses to the greatest extent possible while allowing controlled flight in a hypersonic environment.
Studies may include various geometries, materials, positioning for control surfaces, or other innovative concepts. Proposers may assume vehicles are simple conical shapes or shapes with greater lift-drag ratios. Proposers may also assume a range of velocities above Mach 5 and a range of altitudes up to 50 kilometers. Solutions could have applicability to small interceptors, such as projectiles shorter than one meter or larger interceptors, such as missiles over 5 meters long," said the MDA.

MDA recently asked for $120.4 million in FY19 for hypersonic defense research. Current missile interceptors are not designed to defend against hypersonic missiles, and that MDA wants to transform interceptors into anti-hypersonic weapons.
The request provides a complete breakdown of how the program will rollout once the MDA selects the proper technology.

• PHASE I: Perform analysis on promising aerodynamic control concepts to include modeling and/or limited wind tunnel assessment. Estimate the maneuverability and kinetic energy loss for maneuvers at a range of Mach numbers and altitudes. Down select to one or two preferred design concepts.
• PHASE II: Work with a missile defense system integrator to mature the selected geometry and design. Obtain higher fidelity estimates of performance. Test in a representative environment such as a wind tunnel.
• PHASE III DUAL-USE APPLICATIONS: Work with a system integrator to refine requirements and integrate into a full guidance navigation and control system. Demonstrate the technology in a representative environment. Transition the technology into a missile defense application.

Earlier this month, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency’s (DARPA) debuted its Glide Breakers program at D60 Symposium, a three-day conference honoring the organization's 60th anniversary.



The program will research “component technologies” needed for one or more defense systems but will focus heavily on a kinetic-force weapon to intercept high-speed enemy missiles.



With Russia and China jumping ahead of the US with superior hypersonic weapons, it seems that multiple agencies within the Pentagon are seeking to develop various forms of hypersonic interceptors -- on short notice.



While many believe American Hegemony is here to stay, there is a strong possibility that it could be somewhat displaced in the coming years as China and Russia now lead the hypersonic race. MDA's request for Mach 5 hypersonic missile interceptors and DARPA's Glide Breaker program, should be viewed as a defensive maneuver by Washington, as US Admiral Harry Harris, former head of the US Pacific Command and now the ambassador to South Korea, said, “China’s hypersonic weapons development outpaces ours… we’re falling behind.”



https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-combat-russia

Bioweapon? Scientists Sound Alarm Over DARPA Plans To Spread Viruses Using Insects

Fri, 10/05/2018 - 21:35
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A team of scientist sounds the alarm in a new Science Policy Forum report about a mysterious US government program that is developing genetically modified viruses that would be dispersed into the environment using insects. The virus-infected or 'Frankenstein' insects are being developed as countermeasures against potential natural and engineered threats to the US food supply. The program is operated by the Pentagon’s Defense Advanced Research Project Agency (DARPA) could be viewed as an attempt to develop an entirely new class of bioweapons that would prompt other nations to seek similar weapons, they cautioned.

The researchers from the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology and the University of Freiburg both in Germany, and the University of Montpellier in France suggest DARPA's program could likely breach the Biological Weapons Convention, the first multilateral disarmament treaty banning the development, production, and stockpiling of biological and toxin weapons.
Dubbed the "Insect Allies" program, DARPA began modifying insects in 2017, with the plan to produce more resilient crops to help farmers deal with climate change, drought, frost, floods, salinity, and disease, said Gizmodo. The technology at the center of the program is an entirely new method of genetically modifying crops. Instead of modifying seeds in a lab, farmers would send swarms of insects into their crops, where the genetically modified bugs would infect plants with a virus that passes along the new resilience genes, a process known as horizontal genetic alteration. Hence the technology’s name—Horizontal Environmental Genetic Alteration Agents (HEGAA).

For HEGAA to work, Gizmodo explains that DARPA labs develop a virus that is inserted into the chromosome of a target organism. Scientists would use leafhoppers, whiteflies, and aphids genetically altered in the lab using CRISPR, or a variant of a gene-editing system, to carry the virus into crops. Each plant would then be infected by the insect, triggering the intended effects of protecting crops from natural and or human-made threats.
However, the lead author of the report, Richard Guy Reeves from the Department of Evolutionary Genetics at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, says DARPA's Insect Allies program is disturbing and an example of dual-use research in which the US government, in addition to aiding farmers' crops, is also developing a biological weapon.
Insect Allies is reportedly backed by $27 million of funding. According to Gizmodo, there are four academic research teams currently working on the project, including researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin. DARPA maintains that "all work is conducted inside closed laboratories, greenhouses, or other secured facilities," and that the insects have built-in lifespans to limit their spread. By 2020 or 2021, DARPA is planning on testing the virus-infected insects on crops inside greenhouses at undisclosed locations.

Reeves said the use of insects as a vehicle for genetic modification is a horrible idea because they cannot be controlled and indicates that traditional overhead sprays to deliver HEGAAs is the safest bet. DARPA says insects are the only practical solution, as overhead spraying of HEGAAs would require increased farming infrastructure -- something that is not available to all farmers.
The report specifies how there is currently no global regulatory framework to support this new way of transporting HEGAAs to crops, which if not supervised correctly, could lead to potential mishaps.
The scientists of the report interpret DARPA's insect program as "an intention to develop a means of delivery of HEGAAs for offensive purposes," such as conducting biological warfare.
These genetically modified bugs could be implanted with a dangerous plant-killing disease that the Trump adminstration could unleash over farmland in Venezuela, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and or even China, that would decimate the countries' food supply.
The introduction of this potentially dangerous technology, the scientists argue, would usher in an entirely new class of biological, insect-dispatched weapons that could be considered weapons of mass destruction. Scientists warn that this technology would spur rival nations to develop similar insect programs.
In response to a Gizmodo question, a spokesperson for DARPA said it welcomes academic dialogue about the Insect Allies program, but criticizes the conclusion of the report, saying it is "misleading and peppered with inaccuracies."
Blake Bextine, DARPA Program Manager for Insect Allies, rejects many of the claims made by Reeves.

"DARPA is not producing biological weapons, and we reject the hypothetical scenario," Bextine told Gizmodo.

"We accept and agree with concerns about potential dual use of technology, an issue that comes up with virtually every new powerful technology. Those concerns are precisely why we structured the Insect Allies program the way we did, as a transparent, university-led, fundamental research effort that benefits from the active participation of regulators and ethicists and proactive communication to policymakers," said Bextine.
The purpose of Insect Allies program, he states, is to prepare for a new era of emerging threats to US agriculture. Brextine added that DARPA is evaluating the potential environmental impacts of HEGAAs.

"DARPA is extraordinarily sensitive to environmental risks and off-target effects, and has structured the Insect Allies program to identify and mitigate them," he said. "DARPA has mandated multiple levels of biosafety and biosecurity at each stage of the program."

If DARPA’s program succeeds, they will have developed gain-of-function treatments that can be delivered to the "right plants" and the "right tissue," he said. In other words, DARPA wants precision guided biological weapon insects.
Jason Delborne, an Associate Professor at North Carolina State University, an expert in genetic engineering, says the concerns seem "appropriate."

"The social, ethical, political, and ecological implications of producing HEGAAs are significant and worthy of the same level of attention as exploring the science underpinning the potential technology," Delborne told Gizmodo.
"The authors argue persuasively that specifying insects as the preferred delivery mechanism for HEGAAs is poorly justified by visions of agricultural applications. The infrastructure and expertise required for spraying agricultural fields—at least in the U.S. context—is well established, and this delivery mechanism would offer greater control over the potential spread of a HEGAA."

DARPA could be on the cusp of obtaining a new biological weapon that would most certainly be used against Venezuela, Syria, Iran, North Korea, Russia, and or even China, to cripple the countries' food supply and lead to a regime change without firing a signal shot -- this the future of warfare.

https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2018-...-using-insects

DARPA to weaponize insects to spread viruses across the population… sinister plans exposed by team of scientists

(Natural News) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on an agricultural bio-weapon, and a team of scientists are speaking out about it. For many years, agricultural firms have experimented with plant life, genetically modifying crops to confer desired, profitable traits. This experimentation has largely been … [Read More...]

Friday, October 19, 2018 by: Lance D Johnson
Tags: badhealth, badmedicine, badscience, bioweapon, chromosomes, crop genes, DARPA, food supply, future tech, genetic expression, GMOs, HEGAAs, infectious disease, medical ethics, military technology, national security, nutrient assimilation, Viruses, weapon systems

5,190 Views

(Natural News) The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is working on an agricultural bio-weapon, and a team of scientists are speaking out about it.

For many years, agricultural firms have experimented with plant life, genetically modifying crops to confer desired, profitable traits. This experimentation has largely been conducted in labs, whereas genetic modification is directly applied into the chromosomes of a particular crop. Subsidized and introduced with lofty promise, these genetically altered crops have overtaken agricultural practices over the years. Who wouldn’t want to plant a seed type that has been genetically altered to survive mass herbicide spraying, allowing for easy weed control on a mass scale? While genetic modification shows promise for efficiency, the limitations of this experimentation have showed up across the agriculture industry, worldwide. For one, modified chromosomes are not always vertically inherited from one generation to the next. Two, the weeds that once died quickly begin to take on resistant traits. More chemicals, new formulations, and more genetic changes are needed in order to maintain profit margins. Moreover, as agriculture becomes dependent on a select breed of genetically altered seeds, agricultural systems become vulnerable.
Plants will naturally adapt to the diseases and pests in their regional ecosystem and produce seeds that are more genetically adapted to these threats. Heirloom seeds possess various traits from year to year. A diverse selection of heirloom seeds protects agriculture systems. This is why the governments of the world save seeds at the Svalbard Global Seed Vault, an underground facility near the North Pole which protects against accidental loss of diversity in traditional gene banks.

DARPA to unleash genetically altered viruses via insects

Understanding the limitations of genetically modified crops, DARPA researchers insist that the problems be solved by circumventing the genetic modification of the plant; instead DARPA wishes to disperse infectious genetically modified viruses into insects so the bugs can edit crop chromosomes directly in the fields, non-stop. In this way, farmers wouldn’t have to rely on waning vertical inheritance of genetically modified traits. This strategy would allow for horizontal transfer of genetic modification, allowing insects to infect crops with viruses that can change the plant’s chromosomes after they are attacked. To do this, DARPA would have to colonize crop pests, infect them with viruses, and unleash them into the environment. This would have a profound impact on ecosystems, crop health, and eventually human health. Infected insects would eventually come in contact with humans; the consequences are inescapable.

Scientists blow the whistle on DARPA’s research

Richard Reeves and D. Caetano-Anollés of the Department of Evolutionary Genetics, Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Biology, Plön, Germany; C. Boëte of ISEM, University Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, Montpellier, France; and S. Voeneky and F. Beck from the Institute of International Law and Ethics of Law, University of Freiburg, Germany have exposed DARPA’s sinister plan. They purport that, “The regulatory, biological, economic, and societal implications of dispersing such horizontal environmental genetic alteration agents (HEGAAs) into ecosystems” does nothing to enhance U.S. agriculture or advance national defense. The scientists say the program could be viewed as a way to develop biological agents for hostile purposes. They decry that this program could “constitute a breach of the Biological Weapons Convention (BWC).”
With DARPA researching ways to weaponize insects with viruses, the U.S. could indeed be violating the BWC, a treaty that banned countries from developing, producing, and stockpiling biological weapons. DARPA began the project in 2017, not with the intent to build a weapon that spreads disease, but to help farmers with problems in the field, including drought, disease, floods, and frost.
Researchers at the Boyce Thompson Institute in New York, Pennsylvania State University, Ohio State University and the University of Texas at Austin have received $27 million in funding to help DARPA develop Horizontal Environmental Genetic Alteration Agents (HEGAA). These agents are viruses that will be introduced into the insect population to directly influence the genetic makeup of crops. DARPA intends to use leaf hoppers, white flies, and aphids to introduce the viruses in to the crops. DARPA is calling this the “Insect Allies” program and promises to help farmers combat “climate change.”
Viruses that affect crops, insects, and rodents may impact humans in different ways. For example, reverse transcriptase occurs after injection of the MMR vaccine, whereas an enzyme takes genetic information from the diseased animal cells in the vaccine and reverse transcribes cancer causing retroviruses into human DNA for life. So, how will these genetic changes impact the human genome? How will plants evolve? Will plant nutrients continue to be assimilated by the human microbiome? Furthermore, how will the genetically engineered viruses in the insects interact with other microorganisms in the environment? If crops are constantly being inundated by modified viruses, this technology could alter the genetics and immune systems of humans who depend on the crops.
Notwithstanding, as a U.S. defense project, this technology could be used to introduce debilitating viruses into enemy farmlands, crippling their agriculture. Because of this possibility, DARPA could be engaging in dual-research, developing a bio-weapon under the guise of agricultural advancement. This could spur rival nations to develop their own brand of agricultural, insect-deployed weapons.
DARPA is currently conducting the experiments on insects in closed greenhouses and laboratories. To succeed, they will have to prove that their virus treatments produce a beneficial gain to agriculture. They will have to prove that the viruses can be precision guided to the “right plants” and the “right tissue.” Once completed, DARPA will have invented the means to unleash either unintended genetic consequences into the environment or an advanced insect-driven bio-weapon.
This is the future of GMOs: corporate control over agriculture, new diseases, and genetic defects, and this is the future of warfare on humanity. For more on this topic, visit GMO.News.

Sources include:

ZeroHedge.com
Science.ScienceMag.org
YouTube.com


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