The New Vampire Drone that Disappears in Sunlight Piques Pentagon’s Interest
The latest in the world of technology is the drones that can drop supplies to the special forces in warzones without being detected. Their only risk is that if detected, their presence will giveaway the location of the recipient. Another threat to this amazing technology is if it lands in the hands of the enemy. This problem is now taken up by Pentagon who has asked for the designs of these 'Vampire Drones' that can fade in sunlight without leaving any trace. The project has been undertaken by Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency that will fund the making of this drone that can vanish within four hours of making the delivery of payload or within 30 minutes of morning twilight, whichever is sooner, reports Daily Mail.
Darpa, the agency funding this project, is requesting designs for the drone so that they can start building a prototype which is capable of delivering small payloads. These vehicles will be able to disappear safely soon after making the delivery of the payloads. The aim of building this drone is to provide deliveries to personnel in regions that are hard to access without the need for hiding as it is time consuming and can also prove fatal. The plan is already in process and the chances are that the design of the drone may too vanish into thin air, reported DefenseOne. There is another Darpa project which is focusing on creating polymers that can be turned from solid state into gas.
The request for designs has been posted by Darpa on FedBizOpps.Gov requesting interested suppliers to come up with specifications as required. The program has been named ICARUS, Inbound, Controlled, Air-Releasable, Unrecoverable Systems. The name is befitting as it borrows from a Greek mythological namesake who died because he flew too close to the sun, said DefenseOne.