14 DAY TRIAL // One of the feature weapons US military will use is artificial black ice.
Pentagon's high-tech arms research division is looking for developing non lethal weapons, as in the modern conflict area is difficult to distinguish between combatants and non-combatants, or enemies and allies.
Black ice adds to the development of ray guns. The plastic-like substance is developed by the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and will force enemies to slip-up.
The agency sponsors research into numerous aspects of military operations, particularly technology, it says, "where risk and payoff are both very high and where success may provide dramatic advances for traditional military roles and missions."
The new science-fiction weapon would stop Iraqi insurgents by spraying it on the road, as they spin out of control. The "polymer ice" functions in hot, arid environments, as it is found in many conflict zones like Iraq and Afghanistan, where US troops are currently fighting.
A spray-on "reversal agent" could be applied over the boots and tyres of friendly forces to avoid sliding around. "Such a system will provide unprecedented situational control and sustained operational temp," DARPA says, "including the ability to shape the terrain by constraining adversaries to specific areas (and) degrade the ability of our adversaries to shoot and chase us."
In a document published on the agency's website, officials point out that "To get from point A to point B, one must have sufficient traction with the ground".
The polymer-based compound imitates black ice: a thin, translucent slippery coating, applied on roads in winter to decrease traction. The agency's wish list for the "Mobility Control System" includes the polymer ice or raw materials to produce it very quickly, a spray-on reversal agent and a means to clean up the ice. "Such a system will provide unprecedented situational control and sustained operational tempo," said DARPA. "It would degrade the ability of our adversaries to shoot and chase us."
Scientists interested in working within the Polymer Ice Project are asked to respond till the middle of April 2007.