Be All You Can Be:

The Meaning of the Nano-

enhanced Army

DANIEL F. MOORE, PH.D.

 Introduction

GOAL OF THIS TALK

FRAMEWORK FOR DISCUSSING NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN

MILITARY APPLICATIONS

HOW DIFFERENT HUMAN ENHANCEMENT

APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY FIT INTO THIS
FRAMEWORK
 Melee Weapon
In a sense, all
technologies are human Shield
enhancement

Personal-use military
technologies in

Body armor
particular

Missile
Weapon

4th-3rd Century B.C. Human

Enhancements on a Greek Hoplite
 Body armor
Sometimes
developments in military
technology lead to
specialization
Melee
Weapon

Missile
Weapon

Shield

Medieval knight and Medieval

Longbowman
Developments in new
types of weapons can Missile
lead to the obsolescence Weapon
of some types of warfare
and other military
technology

Melee
Weapon

British Soldier in 1742

 Enhanced
Developments in new eyesight /

Body armor
types of weapons can communication
lead to the obsolescence
of some types of warfare Missile weapon
and other military
technology

U.S. Soldier wearing Army Combat

Uniform
An extreme in human Shield /
enhanced military Melee
technology weapon

Body armor
21st Century Human Enhanced
Bruce Banner as The Incredible
Hulk
 Autonomous
Civilization
Permanent
Military
Technology
Examples of
different ways to
distinguish military
technology

Offensive
Defensive
External

Internal
Missile
Shock
Purpose of use
Level of use/impact
Type of use
Amount of control
Duration of use
and/or impact
Locus of use

Human
Individual
controlled
Temporary
 What nanotechnology brings to the table

Duration of use/impact Locus of use

Tools that enable more Allows technology to

permanent effects move towards internal
Tools that are use / impact because of
continuous / always on size and capabilities
and always available Comparatively
ubiquitous
 Military “Problems”

Technologies are created to solve problems or enhance

capabilities
Military “Problems”
 Soldiers need more effective tools to accomplish their goals
 Soldiers carry a heavy load, averaging just under 100 lbs in combat
operations
 Threats to soldiers can come unexpectedly, suddenly, and can cause
injuries that cannot be healed quickly
 Communication and coordination between autonomous individuals
can be difficult
 Sleep deprivation hurts soldier performance – “The most immediate
human performance factor in military effectiveness is degradation of
performance under stressful conditions, particularly sleep deprivation.”
 Military None of these is a new challenge
“Problems”
Better weapons
toolkit Different technologies/cultures
Lighter load solve these challenges to different
Healing / Preventing degrees and with different
Injuries and Death methods
Battlefield
Communication
Sleep deprivation
Major advances in these solutions
and mental states of can create major changes
soldiers
battlefield outcomes/situations
 Nanotech’s approach to solving problems

In general, nanotechnology leads us to military

technology that enhances humans more permanently
and more internally
Makes strong inroads into previously difficult to
solve problems
 For example, managing mental states of individuals
This applies to personal use military technology as
well as societal level military technology
 Missile
Future Warrior Weapon
Concept
Communications
and information

Body armor
system
Combat uniform
Weapon system
Soldier status
monitors
Power systems
Locus of use

Future Warrior
- Nanotechnology enabled

Image from US Army Natick Soldier Research, Development, & Engineering

 More effective Strong, lightweight materials for
weapons weaponry
toolkit Battle-suit exoskeleton can be
Nanoscale materials
allow for lighter
used to augment soldier abilities
devices/objects that Can create different types of
achieve at least the same
goal attack
 Such as, unleashing a “swarm” of
Different scales of nanoscale robots programmed to
weapons can allow for disrupt the electrical / chemical
different types of attack
systems in a building (as opposed to
just bombing it)
 Lighter Load / Historically, load size has been a
Increased severe limiter of army mobility
mobility  One major boon to armies was when
Nanoscale materials soldier could carry their own load
allow for lighter  Livy tells us that Hannibal had more than
devices/objects that
achieve at least the same 2000 head of cattle with his army of
goal 30,000 men
Simply making devices smaller and
lighter can make the soldier more
mobile with a smaller footprint
 Allowing for far greater supply lines

Legionnaire on the march

 Lighter Load / Reducing size of powering devices
Increased is key to reducing current load of
mobility the individual soldier
Nanoscale materials
Nanotechnology allows for
allow for lighter
devices/objects that extremely small power generation
achieve at least the same
goal
and storage devices
For example, nanogenerators that
turn mechanical motion into
electrical energy

ZnO Nanowire Nanogenerator by X. Wang and ZL Wang

 Nanoscale materials allow for
Injury/death energy absorbing materials
prevention  Nanoscale trusses provide the ability to
Nanotechnology absorb significant energy with light
allows for more direct / weight designs
immediate prevention,
detection, and
 They can be made out of flexible
treatment of injuries materials such as polymers as well as
nanocomposites
  Traditionally, body armor has been the solution to
limiting injuries and/or death
Injury/death  Accessing nanoscale materials can give some
prevention polymers an electrorheological response
Nanotechnology  Mechanical actuators can transform a material

allows for more from flexible and pliant to nonpliant and armor-
direct / immediate like
detection and
treatment of injuries

These electro-
rheological materials
could also be used as
exomuscles to
augment a soldier’s
physical strength and
movement
Battlefield
communication
/ information
Ubiquitous, highly
sensitive, highly selective
sensors
 Nanoscale materials and
Fast / Enhanced arrangements allow for chemical /
Communications biological sensors that are highly
selective and sensitive
 Nanodevices can allow these to be
placed in otherwise unavailable places
o For example, in the bloodstream

Image from paper by Y. Cui et al, Science

Battlefield Nanoscale sensors and
communication miniaturized electronics can allow
/ information for constant delivery of
Ubiquitous, highly information to the soldier
sensitive, highly selective
sensors
 Maps, routes, mission data
 Vital information about health of
Fast / Enhanced individual and of team
Communications  Reactive display – integrated night
vision, heat vision, etc.
Heightened Awareness
  “The most immediate human
Managing
Mental States / performance factor in military
Performance effectiveness is degradation of
Sleep loss is a key performance under stressful
factor contributing to conditions, particularly sleep
poor decision making deprivation. If an opposing force had
a significant sleep advantage, this
Potentially, automatic
injection of chemicals
would pose a serious threat.”
that remove the effects of  “Suppose a human could be
sleep loss and enhance
engineered who slept for the same
performance are possible
amount of time as a giraffe (1.9 hours
per night). This would lead to an
approximately twofold decrease in the
casualty rate.”

Both quotes from JASON report on Human Performance

 Managing Nanoscale sensors can help
Mental States / monitor wayward eye movement,
Performance hormone production, core / skin
Nanoscale Sensors temperature, heart rate, blood
allow for detection of
deteriorating soldier pressure, stress levels, etc.
performance If needed, care can be triggered
Factors such as brain automatically
patterns, hormone
production, wayward
eye movement, etc. can
be monitored
  In general, nanotechnology leads us to
Military military technology that enhances
Nanotechnology humans more permanently and more
Lighter materials and internal
devices  Lighter loads and devices allow an
Lighter load individual soldier to increase capabilities
without sacrificing mobility
Healing / Preventing
Injuries and Death
 Energy absorbing and electromechanical
nanomaterials enable ubiquitous, personal
Battlefield
Communication
body armor and injury treatment
 Nanoscale sensors allow for permanently
Sleep deprivation and
mental states of soldiers
connected/networked soldiers and leaders
 Sensors can monitor mental states,
performance, and internal conditions
 The Nano-Enhanced Army

In a sense, military technologies have always been

enhancing humans in the same manner
New technological paradigms have helped change
the military in unique ways
 Not just a better mousetrap
Nanotechnology allows for military enhancement to
become more permanent and more internal